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PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



PURITANISM IN THE 
SOUTH 



By 



J. Edward Kirbye 




BOSTON 
THE PILGRIM PRESS 

NEW YORK CHICAGO 






[LIBRARY of CONeif?F.SS 
Two Copiei; Received 

DEC 9 1908 

CLASS 



1% XXc< ■^.'0. 



J 



Copyright, 1908 
By J. Edward Kirbye 



The Arakelyan Press, Boston, Mass. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

I. COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH . . i 

In Virginia M 

In Maryland 41 

In South Carolina 56 

In North Carolina 17 

In Georgia 95 

II. WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH . 127 



FOREWORD 



This subject, Puritanism in the South, is here pre- 
sented for the first time. The field is broader than at 
first may appear, and yet it has its limitations. The 
convictions expressed in the following lectures have 
grown out of researches covering a number of years. 
There should be a companion volume with the Scotch- 
Irish as its chief subject, for the Scotch-Irish have been 
the largest factor in the development of Southern life 
and civilization. But it has been my purpose more 
particularly to write of the English Puritan, although 
in the sketch on North Carolina there were so few of 
these that it was necessary to include the splendid 
achievements of the Scotch-Irish, with whom mutual 
relations always existed. 

It is common in public gatherings where people from 
the North and South are present to speak of the Puri- 
tan from the North and the Cavalier from the South. 
But this is a historical inaccuracy and needs correc- 
tion. The largest and most influential churches in the 
South in colonial days were dissenting. Long before 
the Revolution the distinctive character of the few Cav- 
aliers had perished, so that there is no more truth in 
the statement that the people of the Scjuth are Cava- 
liers than there would be in saying thgt they are all 
Germans. ; 

jTOn the other hand, frequently the Northern man says 
that the history of the South would have been different 



if the New England spirit had been there. This is a 
fallacy, for the Puritan spirit was there and was as 
tenacious in its championship of the Southern cause as 
any other. 

The story of Puritanism in the South is told in the 
tale of the aloe plant. » 

"Have you heard the tale of the aloe plant 

That grows in our Southern clime? 

By humble growth of an hundred years 

It reaches its blooming time. 

And then a wondrous bud at its crown 

Breaks into a thousand flowers, 

The floral queen in its beauty seen 

Is the pride of our tropical bowers. 

But the plant is to the flower a sacrifice 

For it blooms but once and in its blooming dies." 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

I. 

COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 



*^ HE ordinary person has little conception 

Tof the facts and forces making Southern 
life and civilization. People in the North 
have generally taken for granted that the 
plantation system of the South was made 
by an aristocratic society descended in most instances 
from Cavaliers. Sometime ago a leading Congressman, 
from the state of Illinois, made an address in St. Louis 
in which he felicitated himself on the privilege of stand- 
ing before an audience representing the convergence 
of the streams of Puritanism from the North and the 
Cavalier from the South. Only a few years ago a 
Congregational clergyman, distinguished more for his 
rhetoric than for his historical knowledge, said before 
a large religious gathering that Puritanism had always 
moved along certain parallels of latitude and that it 
was a historical fact that it had never been found in 
the South. This represents a popular conception found 
in the North, which has been perpetuated by those 
whose rhetoric has been far more conspicuous than 
their knowledge. 

The various classes actually found in the colonial 
life of the South are as divergent as one can possibly 
conceive. The present solidarity of the South is often 

— — 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



commented upon, and yet no section has more diver- 
gences. The solidarity consists merely in a uniform 
standard regarding certain principles in relation to the 
black man. 

A view of the various classes making Southern co- 
lonial life will enable us to understand more clearly 
the contribution of Puritanism to the South. 

The Cavalier is not entirely a myth even if the his- 
torical fact of his presence has been unduly emphasized. 
But he was found only in Virginia, and there only in 
the tide-water region and along the shores of the Chesa- 
peake. And yet even in this region not all the set- 
tlers were Cavaliers, for there were many others as will 
be seen later. Robert Toombs once said, "We are the 
gentlemen of this country." This was certainly an 
error if he meant that the planters of the South were 
descended from the old Cavalier stock of Virginia. It 
is quite impossible to estimate the number of Cavaliers 
found in the South. There were probably fifteen hun- 
dred, one thousand of whom came to Virginia during 
the days of the Commonwealth. At the restoration of 
Charles II, the immigration ceased, many of them re- 
turning to their homes and lands in England. Sims 
in his history of South Carolina gives this picture of 
several Cavaliers who were early concerned with the 
development of the Southern Colonies, among the most 
important being the Earl of Clarendon ; George, Duke 
of Albemarle ; William, Lord Craven ; John, Lord Berke- 
ley; Antony, Lord Ashley; Sir George Carteret, Sir 
William Berkeley and Sir John Colleton. "Clarendon 
was shrewd and sagacious as a politician, but of a mean, 



[2] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

covetous nature; the Duke of Albemarle was George 
Monk, famous for the part he took in the restoration 
of the Stuarts — a soldier and selfish politician ; Craven 
was a brave old soldier, but neither a good Christian 
nor a philosopher; Ashley Cooper, afterward Earl of 
Shaftesbury, the most highly endowed intellectually of 
all the Proprietors, was a subtle, mercurial statesman, 
a restless intriguer, unstable in aim and faithless in 
principle and conduct; Colleton was a royalist of no 
distinction ; the two Berkeleys, Lord John and Sir Wil- 
liam, the latter better known as Governor of Virginia, 
were wrong-headed and obstinate personages; Carteret 
was neither too wise nor too honest. They represented 
Cavaliers of that day; but these had sadly degenerated 
from the period when Charles I took the field against 
his subjects. They were only so many rapacious court- 
iers seeking a selfish object and without the capital to 
achieve or the capacity to design a plan of colonial es- 
tablishment which should answer their own desires." 
The Cavalier was a man of aristocratic habits and 
frequently of dissolute life. He was suave in manner, 
courtly in bearing, and an expert in horsemanship and 
the chase, and made woman a queen. He was the 
flower of medieval chivalry. His conception of so- 
ciety was that in which the few ruled the many. He 
made no contribution to progress, but was in the main 
loyal to the ideals of feudalism as they were expressed 
in the political and industrial serfdom of the old manor 
life. He had nothing in common with the march of 
democracy. There was something of the picturesque and 
romantic about him, but he was a fading figure in the 

m 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



world's progress. He hated the Puritan and in return 
was despised — he caricatured, and perhaps justly, the 
pretended piety of Puritanism, and yet he was blind 
to its moral grandeur and failed to understand it in 
its fundamental relations to the onward movement of 
freedom. 

And yet there was another class of these men in 
Virginia who were more susceptible to progress. Dur- 
ing the reign of Charles H, we become familiar with 
the names of Washington, Randolph, Gary, Ludwell 
and Parke, and others who achieved prominence. We 
must not forget the valuable services which these men 
of Cavalier blood rendered. But at the same time we 
cannot overlook the fact that the Scotch-Irish had 
poured into the hills and valleys of Virginia and filled 
the body politic for more than a generation with ideas 
of liberty. These influences, combined with the dis- 
semination of French literature and with the spirit that 
produced Bacon's rebellion, made Virginia indeed a 
cradle of liberty. Fiske says that one of the four 
causes of Bacon's rebellion was a "tendency toward 
oligarchical government which had been rapidly grow- 
ing since the beginning of the great influx of Cavaliers 
in 1649." The Puritan contribution to this was an im- 
portant one. 

The Cavalier disappeared from the pages of history 
before the Revolution, leaving behind no abiding monu- 
ments of his genius or ideals and stands to-day a pa- 
thetic, shadowy figure of the past, renowned only be- 
cause he stood as the breaker between medievalism 
and modernism, clinging with steadfast devotion to 



[4] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

the old, while all the forces of progress were beating 
him down as the world moved onward into light. 

The Huguenot of Virginia and South Carolina is a 
far more important element in Southern life than was 
the Cavalier. One writer, commenting upon these set- 
tlers in the tide-water district of Virginia, says, "With 
rare exceptions they are the most upright, intelligent 
and highly trusted of every social class in France and 
in every respect the flower of that favored land, and 
most of those who came to Virginia were from the 
Western provinces which border upon the same lati- 
tude." The first Huguenots came to Virginia in 1610 
and settled near Hampton Roads for the purpose of 
vine culture. In the seventeenth century others came, 
and in 1702 a town was entirely settled by them. The 
colony brought to Virginia by Duke de Soubise ob- 
tained a patent of 20,000 acres in Nansemond County 
on the south side of the James. This immigration con- 
tinued through the eighteenth century, some coming 
directly from France, some by the way of England, 
some from other European countries where they had 
taken refuge, while a few came by way of the West 
Indies. In South CaroKna they were a large class. 
Not only did they make up a large population in old 
Charleston, but above Charleston large grants of land 
were obtained, and they settled upon them. The con- 
tribution made by these people was a large one. Being 
admitted to citizenship, thousands of them in Virginia 
and South Carolina gave their genius and ability to 
the South. In state affairs, in the realm of education, 
in religion, they figured conspicuously. Many of the 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



most important families from these two states trace 
their ancestry to these people. The spirit of the Hugue- 
not in the South has been very much the same as that 
of the Puritan, and is illustrated by old Palissy. When 
Henry III visited him in the Bastile and urged him 
to recant, as he was compelled by the Guises to let the 
law take its course, the old man replied, "I am ready 
to give my life for the glory of God. You have said 
many times that you have pity on me. Now I have 
pity on you. You say you are compelled, but that is 
what neither you nor all who compel you, can ever 
effect upon me, for I know how to die." That has 
been the spirit of the Huguenot. Loving liberty and 
religion more than life, these thousands of French 
Huguenots in the tide-water districts of South Carolina 
and Virginia passed on a heritage to their section price- 
less in value and power. 

Another class in the colonial life of the South was 
the white servant or slave. Dr. Samuel Johnson of 
England said at one time in reference to America, 
"Why, they are a race of convicts and ought to be 
thankful for anything we allow them short of hang- 
ing." While this may be considered an irate remark, 
yet it expresses a conception once prevalent regarding 
Colonial America. One writer says that it used to be 
common for European newspapers to speak of the 
Americans as the offspring of the vagabonds and felons 
of Europe. Public opinion is not always discriminative 
and frequently emphasizes a half-truth to the detri- 
ment of larger influences and forces. While it is true 
that there were reasons for these opinions yet it is also 



[6] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

true that this wholesale generalization represents an 
ignorant and childish view of the regnant forces mak- 
ing colonial life and civilization. White slavery ex- 
isted in the colonies and is one of the historical facts 
to be considered. 

There were three classes of white people condemned 
to servitude in colonial days. 

Political offenses constituted one of the crimes which 
sent many slaves to America. The rebellion of Dun- 
bar in 1650, Penruddock's attempt against the Common- 
wealth in 1655, the Scotch Rebellion in 1666, the Mon- 
mouth uprising in 1686, the Jacobite insurrection in 
1715, all furnished excuses for the government to ban- 
ish its enemies into servitude in the colonies. Of this 
custom a picture is given in "Prisoners of Hope." 

The second class consisted of those who were con- 
demned for criminal offenses. The felons sent to the 
colonies represented the smaller number in comparison 
with the whole. Undoubtedly there were real crimi- 
nals in this class, and yet I am inclined to believe that 
a survey of the circumstances might give a more le- 
nient judgment. We must remember that the people 
of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
were not entirely emancipated from the tyrannous laws 
and customs of feudalism. The convict of those days 
was oftentimes better than the laws which made him 
a criminal. A story is related of a poor woman steal- 
ing a joint of meat to relieve family necessities, who 
by so doing incurred the death penalty, but was given 
an opportunity to come to America as a slave instead. 
Judges and men of state in England felt the injustice 

[7] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



of these laws frequently and were relieved when the con- 
demned could be sent to the colonies. But after all the 
extenuating circumstances are emphasized, the majority 
of this class, beyond doubt, were typical of the shift- 
lessness and inefficiency of a peasant class which had 
been bound by the weight of centuries to the ground. 

The third and largest class consisted of those who 
were too poor to come to the colonies and agreed 
to bind themselves out to masters for a period of years 
in order to pay their passage money. These again 
should be divided into two classes. First, those who 
were persuaded or coerced by agents for the selfish 
purpose of securing additional land and who laid be- 
fore these peasants glowing prospects which their shift- 
lessness made impossible of realization. Second, those 
who were of a sturdy and steady life and who felt 
that a new land offered real opportunity. This latter class 
of indentured servants had its representatives among 
the Germans and Swiss of South Carolina and in all 
the other Southern colonies. After their period of serv- 
ice they became freeholders, oftentimes possessors of 
good estates, and developed the resources about them. 

There were probably fifty thousand of this white 
servile class in all the Southern colonies and their 
presence produced many problems. Socially they be- 
came outcasts, and an old rhyme in Maryland expresses 
a common sentiment. 

"Damn you, tho' now so brave, 
I knew you late a four years' slave ; 
What if for planter's wife you go, 
Nature designed you for the hoe." 



[8] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN JHE SOUTH 

The distribution of their descendants in the body 
politic has been in the main a detriment to progress. 
The development of the plantation system prevented in 
a large measure the elevation and expansion of their 
limited potentialities and doomed them in the light of 
political and religious liberty. While more of it is in 
the South, yet the influences can be traced in New 
England, where there were a limited number. This 
class cannot be overlooked in considering the history 
of Southern colonies. 

With these classes mentioned there was also a dis- 
tribution of Germans, Irish, Scotch and French in the 
various colonies, besides the sects of Quakers, Mora- 
vians, Salzburgers, all coming through the doors at 
Savannah, Charleston, Jamestown, and from the north 
by Pennsylvania and Maryland. These, with the 
Scotch-Irish, whom Campbell and Fiske call the Puri- 
tans of the South, and the English Puritans entered 
into the making of Southern life and civilization. 

The real difference between the North and South 
was not that the Puritan was in New England and 
the Cavalier in the South. The contrast which has 
produced diversity of ideal was the fact of the differ- 
ence in the land system. The former had small farms, 
the latter large plantations. The small farm of the 
North necessitated development along certain lines ; the 
large plantation of the South necessitated a different 
development. Two centuries of development produced 
two sections, with their divergences more pronounced 
than their similarities, which affected their social, in- 
tellectual and religious ideals. 

[71 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



In the South the people lived on the plantations sepa- 
rated from each other, each planter being the lord of 
his dominions with his individualism pronounced. In 
the North the people lived on small farms near each 
other, so that they learned to recognize social obliga- 
tion. In the town meeting they discussed the affairs 
of the town as a whole, and the social spirit was con- 
stantly to the front. What was the result of this ? 

In the South there was an absence of community 
obligation. There were no public roads such as were 
found in the North. With rare exceptions the public 
road, well kept, was not known in the South. It would 
have been too expensive to the individual planter. In 
the North, the land being divided into townships and 
then into sections and quarter-sections, necessitated 
public roads and bridges. A study of New England 
shows that this matter was constantly before the 
people. 

This difference in the land system affected the peo- 
ple intellectually, producing the private school of the 
South and the public school of the North. It was im- 
practicable for the Southern planter to maintain a pub- 
lic school system. It was impracticable for the North- 
ern farmer not to do so. Distances in the South, poor 
roads winding through pine forests, individualism in 
industry, rendered it impossible to develop a public 
scheme of education. Thomas Jefferson had planned 
one, but it failed of realization because of the inevitable 
tendencies of Southern life, built as it was on the plan- 
tation system. In the North the public school followed 
the public road. It was easy to gather enough chil- 



[10] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

dren to make it profitable, and the people soon came 
to feel that it was their greatest social asset. Thus it 
gave all the people a chance to learn the rudiments 
of knowledge and prepared them to exercise the rights 
of citizenship with care. In the South the private 
school trained the few better, perhaps, than did the pub- 
lic school of the North the many. For the few it gave 
a training in the finer social amenities which pro- 
duced a difference in time. But it also widened the 
gulf between the poor white child and the child of the 
planter. The condition was so pronounced that, when 
a deserving genius came up from the poor white popu- 
lation, he left the old community and cast his fortune 
with one of the newer states farther west in the South. 
It produced a difference in literature. The South sent 
some of her sons to Europe; the North trained many 
more in her own colleges and universities which she 
had built up. The South produced statesmen in greater 
numbers than did the North because the plantation 
was conducive to the development of individual power 
and confidence. But the North produced a literature 
and a far greater number of literary men. A school 
system, colleges and universities, libraries and lyceums, 
a mingling population in country and city, are con- 
ducive to such a result. Discussions of a public char- 
acter, social relations and problems produce a market 
for literature, and supply and demand are always mu- 
tual. In the South the people were not drawn together 
in discussions, cities were small, the masses of poor 
whites were illiterate and the market for a book was 
confined to the better class of planters or their chil- 

[T] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



dren, who constituted a very small per cent of the popu- 
lation. There was just as much genius in the South, 
but the environment prevented its expression. 

It also produced a difference in religion, — not that 
certain fundamentals varied, but the emphasis placed on 
religious duty was different. Social emphasis grew out 
of the Northern type of life; individual emphasis out 
of the Southern. In the North the church identifies 
itself closely and actively with social reform move- 
ments ; in the South this work is done by the individual 
members of the church. 

The political variation was most prominent. There 
was no need of much government in the South if the 
planter controlled his plantation well, for there were 
no large cities. In the North, on the other hand, as 
social duties multiplied into the township and thence 
into the state and nation, there came into being the 
social consciousness of a centralized authority. It was 
quite natural that some New England people thought 
that they had a right to consider slavery in the South as 
one of their questions, and it is just as natural that the 
South has always considered it an interference. There 
is just as much reason for the South to send mission- 
aries to New York and Chicago as for the North to 
send them to the negro. The needs of the one are just 
as great as the other. The recognition of social obli- 
gations found expression politically in the scheme of 
Hamilton, while on the other hand economic and po- 
litical individualism, represented by Jefferson, has pro- 
duced a difference between the North and South which 
was far more apparent before the war than now. 



[12] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

These were the influences producing different types 
of Americans. The small farm of the North was far 
more democratic than the large plantation of the South, 
as life there assumed an aristocratic character neces- 
sarily. 

A plantation might contain several hundred, and, in 
some cases, several thousand acres of land. The build- 
ings consisted of the house of the owner, usually large 
and spacious, a home for an overseer, quarters for the 
slaves, barns and granaries, besides the famous smoke- 
house. On the larger plantations might be found the 
homes of white tenants who were descendants of inden- 
tured servants, and who were now paying an annual 
rent for their holdings, or, if they had been provident, 
might have secured a small holding, and in some in- 
stances had become the owner of one or more slaves. 

Economically the plantation became a little world of 
its own. With few exceptions it produced everything 
needed. Common shoes, common clothing, foods of all 
kinds, and even some wines, besides the crop upon 
which the planter depended for his main revenue, were 
produced in this industrial community. The gangs of 
slaves were under the control of overseers who planned 
and executed the work upon the plantation and were 
responsible to the master. The great majority of the 
slaves were field-hands, although certain numbers were 
selected for house servants and nurses and for general 
work about the "mansion." There was a community 
church where all worshiped, although a special place 
was assigned the slaves. On the old manors in Mary- 
land there was the manor church. The burial-places 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



indicated the social grade. Under the chapel the fam- 
ily of the lord of the manor were placed ; some distance 
removed the white servants had their place, and, far- 
ther on, the black slave. Even death did not bring 
them together. But the old manor life was never thor- 
oughly established in Maryland, nor was the Hundred 
in Virginia. These were attempts to transplant Old 
World conditions to the New. The plantation system 
in the South, with its different stages of development, 
flourished more than two centuries, during which time 
the Cavalier, the Huguenot, the indentured class, the 
black slave, the Scotch-Irish and the Puritan were 
brought under its influence and molded to a certain 
extent into homogeneity. 



In Virginia 

It seems to be a popular conception in some quarters 
that Puritanism in America was confined to New Eng- 
land and that the South was the home of the Cavalier. 
Fiske says, "A comparative survey of old Virginia's 
neighbors shows how extremely loose and inaccurate 
is the habit of alluding to the old Cavalier society of 
England as if it were characteristic of the Southern 
states in general. Equally loose and ignorant is the 
habit of alluding to Puritanism as if it were peculiar 
to New England. In point of fact the Cavalier society 
was reproduced nowhere save on the Chesapeake Bay. 
On the other hand the English or Independent phase 
of Puritanism was by no means confined to the New 
England colonies. Three-fourths of the people of 

[14] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

Maryland were Puritans. English Puritanism with the 
closely kindred French Calvinism swayed South Caro- 
lina; and in the concluding chapter we shall see how 
the Scotch or Presbyterian phase of Puritanism ex- 
tended throughout the whole length of the Appalachian 
region from Pennsylvania to Georgia, and has exer- 
cised in the Southwest an influence always great and 
often predominant. In the South to-day there is much 
more Puritanism surviving than in New England." 
The Puritan colonies in St. John's Parish, Georgia, at 
Charleston, Dorchester and Wappetaw in South Caro- 
lina, in Nansemond and Norfolk Counties, Virginia, 
at Providence and on the Patuxent in Maryland, with 
the Presbyterian Puritan represented in the Scotch- 
Irish who settled above the tide-water districts forming 
a line from Pennsylvania to Georgia, have been among 
the mighty if not the mightiest potentialities of South- 
ern life and civilization. There can be no complete 
history of the South apart from these influences. 

Puritans were found in Virginia within four years 
after the settlement of Jamestown. Long before either 
the Pilgrim or Puritan landed at Plymouth or at Dor- 
chester in Massachusetts, Puritanism had become rec- 
ognized as a distinct power politically as well as re- 
ligiously in Virginia. They said very little about their 
religious convictions in the early days of the colony, 
probably because they did not wish to attract attention 
at home and thus become an object of attack. They 
were interested in colonization, and when they joined 
outgoing Englishmen to the Barbados, the Carolinas 
or Virginia it was for the. purpose of bettering their 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



fortunes in mjiny instances, though they also believed 
that it might be a means of realizing their political and 
religious ideals. 

The apostle of Puritanism in Virginia was the Rev. 
Alexander Whittaker, who organized the first Puritan 
church in the New World. This was several years 
before the Separatists had landed at Plymouth or Puri- 
tanism had come to New England. Whittaker has been 
represented in a surplice, but evidence indicates that 
he never wore one. Although not a Separatist, he was 
none the less a Puritan. He died in 1616, and was 
succeeded by Rev. George Keith, a non-conformist. It 
is probably due to these early Puritan influences that 
the Episcopal Church in Virginia has always been low 
church. Whittaker, in a letter dated June i8th, 1614, 
expresses great surprise "that so few of the English 
ministers that were so hot against the surplice and sub- 
scription" came to Virginia, where neither was spoken 
of. The numbers were increased especially in Nanse- 
mond and Norfolk Counties. It is quite probable that 
reports from these brethren in Virginia, giving an ac- 
count of their safe retreat, reached the band of Pil- 
grims who were in exile in Holland and aided them 
in their determination to come to Virginia. Between 
the years 161 8-1 621 about twenty-five hundred persons 
landed in Virginia. There were two influences operat- 
ing to cause this. The governor of the colony, anxious 
to increase its prosperity and influence, was offering 
inducements to those who would come and settle within 
his jurisdiction. The other influence was religious. 
In England the struggle against establishment was on. 



[16] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE $OUTH 

The non-conformists looked upon the efforts of Ban- 
croft as persecution, for they considered that conscience 
must be obeyed, and their conscience was against the 
Established Church. Therefore they were leaving the 
realm because they would not conform, but this state 
of affairs became so alarming that a proclamation was 
issued forbidding them to leave the country without 
the king's license. It was this peremptory order that 
stopped Milton and Pym from coming to Virginia. 
Green says, *The dissolution of the Parliament of 1629 
marked the darkest hour of Puritanism whether in 
England or the world at large. But it was in this 
hour of despair that the Puritans won their noblest 
triumphs. They turned toward the new world to re- 
dress the balance of the old." 

It is true that the majority came to New England, 
but many went elsewhere and quite a number at least 
came to Virginia. Those who came to this colony 
sprang from the sturdy English yeomanry which has 
always been a large asset in the commercial resources 
of any state. One writer says that Norfolk County 
was the center of this influence and that here "lived 
the future rulers of Maryalnd." Nansemond County 
was fully as influential. Edward Bennett, a wealthy 
London merchant, obtained a large grant of land here, 
and brought with him a congregation of Puritan 
Dissenters. The son of Edward Bennett was des- 
tined to play a large part in the political life of 
Virginia and Maryland during the days of the 
Commonwealth. In Nansemond County a system 
of local government was developed and an inde- 
— - . 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



pendent church was also organized, of which the Rev. 
William Bennett became the spiritual guide. In 1629 
the Puritans had two burgesses in the assembly, but 
Governor Harvey arrived in the colony that year and 
set about enforcing the order of Bancroft against dis- 
sent, which had been ignored up to this time. But the 
effort of the governor was only formal, with the 
thought of securing the good-will of the archbishop, 
and perhaps disenfranchisement of Roman Catholics. 
The Puritan element became so popular with the gov- 
ernor that a Captain Basse, one of their number, was 
asked to open a correspondence with the Puritans in 
Massachusetts, inviting them, in behalf of the governor, 
to remove to Virginia. This seems to have been a 
fruitless effort, as there are no records of any having 
accepted the invitation. There is plenty of evidence, 
however, that later Virginia gave some of her Puri- 
tans to Massachusetts. 

In the year 163:, Virginia became openly intolerant, 
and the following years witnessed an effort to stamp 
out dissension by requiring conformity. The Assembly 
passed an act which provided, "that there be a uni- 
formity throughout this colony both in substance and 
circumstances to the canons and constitutions of the 
Church of England." These were the days when 
Charles I was ruling without a parliament and when 
the Puritan was being harried for his obedience to con- 
science. What the entire effect of this action of the 
Assembly was can only be conjectured. From the 
meager records it would seem that Puritan divines 
withdrew from the colony and that their religious serv- 



[18 J 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

ices were conducted by elders. These were trying days. 
It was with difficulty that the few congregations were 
held together. In Nansemond, Bennett conducted the 
services as a layman, and by this means was enabled 
to hold the congregation together. The Puritans were 
law abiding, and never gave consent to these acts re- 
quiring conformity, nor were they willing to obey them. 
Ten years of persecution, the tottering influence of the 
kingdom of Charles I, and the growing revolutionary 
influences in England, were the motives which led the 
Puritans of Virginia to send a petition signed by sev- 
enty-one people to their brethren in Massachusetts. 

Phillip Bennett, an elder of a congregation, was in- 
structed to go to Boston in May, 1641, and ask Gov- 
ernor Winthrop on behalf of the petitioners to send 
some ministers to them. On his arrival in Boston, 
Governor Winthrop had the petition read on Lecture 
Day. Divine guidance was sought, and a memoran- 
dum of this reads, "to seek God in it and agree upon 
those who could be spared from the Churches in New 
England." The great missionary enthusiasm of Puri- 
tanism is revealed here, the response to this appeal 
being in the same spirit that later led them to respond 
to the calls from South Carolina, from Hawaii, and 
from the wide world. They decided to send three min- 
isters to Virginia. Mr. James of New Haven, Mr. 
Knowles, an elder in Watertown, and Mr. Thomson of 
Bralntree were consecrated to the work in response 
to the appeal. With the blessings of the churches upon 
them, and with prayers for their future endeavors, 
they sailed from Narragansett. Their boat was wrecked 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



and driven upon Hell Gate rocks, but after the trials 
incident to a shipwreck they finally secured another 
passage, and reached Virginia after eleven weeks. 

In the meantime, Governor Berkeley had been in- 
stalled. He was a bigoted Churchman, a typical Cava- 
lier, a devoted servant of royalty, and hated the Puri- 
tans. These ministers on leaving New England had 
been given letters of introduction by Governor Win- 
throp to Governor Berkeley, but these did not add to 
the official welcome. They found auditors and willing 
listeners among the people, but not in the determined 
Cavalier governor. Within six months after their ar- 
rival, Knowles and James were compelled to leave the 
colony by an act of the Assembly. Thomson for some 
reason remained. Just before leaving they seemed to 
have conducted an evangelistic campaign, for on re- 
turning the following summer they reported abundant 
success wherever they had gone. This would indicate 
that the act of the Assembly had not made them afraid 
in proclaiming their message to the people. Thomson, 
who had remained behind, wrote to the church in Bos- 
ton, "that being a very melancholic and of crazy body, 
he found his health so repaired and his spirit so en- 
larged as he had not been since his arrival in New 
England." The raging of the governor does not seem 
to have given him distress of mind or body. 

This same year there were two enactments against 
the Puritans by the Assembly, which shows that they 
were growing in influence. The Assembly decreed 
that the Book of Common Prayer must be used in all 
religious services and be the basis of worship and that 



[20] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SQUTH 

all Dissenters who refused to yield were to be expelled. 
But Thomson still remained and continued to perform 
his duties as a minister. Converts were numerous; 
perhaps the most important personage being Daniel 
Godkin, who was the son of an old Puritan. After his 
conversion he left Virginia and moved to Boston, at 
the same time changing his name to Gookin. 

Of a poem celebrating Thomson's work in Virginia, 
one verse reads thus: 

"A constellation of great converts there 
Shone round him and his heavenly glory wear. 
Godkin was one of these ; by Thomson's pains 
Christ and New England a dear Godkin gains." 

The Indian massacre in 1644 had an important in- 
fluence on the Puritan settlers. The Rev. Thomas 
Harrison, who had been a bigoted member of the Es- 
tablished Church and a close adviser of His Excellency, 
the Governor, believed that it was a visitation of di- 
vine wrath. This led him to resign his office and move 
to Nansemond County, where he became a zealous 
Puritan and had marvelous success in preaching the 
gospel. Governor Berkeley tried to persuade him to 
return, but his efforts were vain. Then the irate gov- 
ernor, loyal to his church, swore to no advantage. The 
audacity of Mr. Harrison exasperated him beyond 
measure, and on November 3, 1647, he had the Assem- 
bly pass the following: "Upon divers informations pre- 
sented to this Assembly against several ministers for 
their neglect and refractory refusing, after warning 
given them to read the Common Prayer . . . for fu- 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



tiire remedy thereof, be it enacted by the Governor, 
Council, and Burgesses of this grand Assembly that 
ministers in their several cures throughout the colony 
do duly upon every Sabbath day read such prayers as 
are appointed and prescribed unto them by the said 
Book of Common Prayer, and be it further enacted as a 
penalty to such as have neglected or shall continue to 
neglect their duty therein that no parishioner shall be 
compelled either by distress or otherwise to pay any 
manner of tythes of duties to any unconformist as 
aforesaid." There was at least one Puritan representa- 
tive in the Assembly at this time, but this action seems 
to have widened the breach between the two factions, 
and no more was heard of the Puritans until Richard 
Bennett became governor in 1652. 

The act of the Assembly, in 1643, was still in force, 
and this, with the recent act, led Berkeley to take an 
extreme stand. Pastors of the Puritans were banished, 
and later their teachers, while many of their number 
suffered imprisonment. Arms were taken from them 
so that the colony was left without means of protec- 
tion against the Indians. Harrison went to Boston, 
where he reported to Governor Winthrop that not less 
than one thousand Virginians were of the Puritan 
faith, and that even the Assembly was not a unit on 
the enactment and enforcement of the law of uniform- 
ity. 

The colony had determined to emigrate; old Captain 
Sayle, a Puritan of the sea, had invited them to the 
Bahamas, and many were disposed to accept the invita- 
tion, Mr. Harrison being committed to this scheme. 



[22] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

Governor Winthrop of Boston advised differently and 
urged them to remain in Virginia as long as they could 
possibly endure the disabilities. After this advice Rev. 
Mr. Harrison returned to England and became a chap- 
lain in the army of Richard Cromwell. His parish- 
ioners in Virginia did not forget him, and petitioned 
the Council of State in England that he be allowed 
to return. In October, the Council in England in- 
structed Governor Berkeley to allow the Rev. Mr. Har- 
rison to return inasmuch as the only cause for his 
banishment was his refusal of conformity. Berkeley 
would undoubtedly have disregarded the order, as he 
was devoted to the cause of royalty, but there was no 
reason now for a contest, as the Puritans had removed 
beyond his province. Durand and Bennett leading, the 
majority had settled in Maryland near the town of 
St. Mary. Some had moved into North Carolina, and 
there now remained only a few in Virginia. This was 
the close of their history as a colony in Virginia. But 
politically Puritanism was still to figure here. 

Puritanism had triumphed in England under the lead- 
ership of the mighty Cromwell. Virginia, with Berke- 
ley as governor, was loyal and openly espoused the 
cause of the Stuarts. This aggressive attitude cost 
Berkeley his office and the "colony her freedom." It 
would be more historical to say that it cost the colony 
her tyranny, represented as it had been in her Cava- 
lier governor. Cavaliers who had taken refuge in the 
colony fanned the flame of discontent by relating the 
cruelty and hypocrisy practised by the Puritans in Eng- 
land against royalty. After the execution of Charles I, 

U3I 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



and during the days of the Commonwealth, large num- 
bers of Cavaliers sought refuge here. These were the 
influences which caused Virginia to be openly loyal to 
the crown. 

After Cromwell had matters fairly well in hand in 
England, his attention was turned to the colonies, many 
of which were in a disloyal attitude. A fleet was des- 
patched to the West Indies, and, after subduing An- 
tigua and the Barbados, was to move against Virginia. 
The governor, hearing of this, made preparations for 
their arrival. The fleet expected no resistance, but 
when off Jamestown discovered that a reception of a 
military character was awaiting them. Several Dutch 
trading vessels were anchored and had been turned 
into war-ships. It was for the interest of these Dutch 
traders to take the side of the colony in the contro- 
versy, inasmuch as they were trading there, contrary 
to an interdict of the Commonwealth. These trading 
vessels were flanked by a large body of troops com- 
manded by Berkeley. The leaders of the Parliamen- 
tary forces were staggered by such a seemingly formid- 
able opposition. Instead of a fight, however, negotia- 
tions were entered into. One historian is inclined to 
the view that a large shipment of goods on board the 
English ships for two of its members influenced the 
division in Berkeley's Council. I am inclined to think 
that Berkeley and the Council realized the futility of 
a struggle with Parliament, and that the Puritan influ- 
ence in the colony among the people was real and 
genuine, inasmuch as they believed that in the crisis 
it was a worthy protest against tyranny and that these 



[24] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

were the larger factors producing the division of senti- 
ment. At any rate, a united military stand against the 
fleet representing the Commonwealth was impossible. 

A meeting of the Grand Assembly, consisting of the 
governor, councilors and burgesses, resulted in a series 
of articles which were sent to the British commander. 
These articles are interesting because they reveal the 
temper and spirit of the new government which was to 
be installed in Virginia and which made her Puritan 
in her politics during the days of Cromwell. They read 
as follows: — 

1st. That neither governor nor council shall be 
obliged to take the oath nor engagements to the Com- 
monwealth of England for one whole year and that 
neither governor nor council be censured for praying 
for, or speaking w^ell of the king, for one whole year 
in their private houses and neighborly conference. 

2d- That there be one sent home at the present gov- 
ernor's choice, to give an account to his majesty of the 
surrender of this country, this present governor bearing 
this charge, which is Sir William Berkeley. 

3d. That the present Governor and Council shall 
have leave to sell and dispose of their estates and trans- 
port themselves whither they please. 

4th. That the Governor and Council, tho' they do 
not take the engagement for one whole year, shall yet 
have equal free justice in all the courts of Virginia 
until the expiration of one year. 

5th. That all the Governor's and Council's lands and 
houses and whatever belongs to them be particularly 
secured and provided for in these articles. 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



6th. That all debts due to the Governor by act of the 
Assembly be perfectly made good to them; and that 
the governor be paid out of the goods remaining in the 
colony of the Dutch ship that went away clear for Hol- 
land without paying his customs. 

7th. That the governor may have free leave to hire 
a ship in England or Holland to carry away the Gov- 
ernor's and the Council's and what he or they have 
to transfer to England or Holland, without any let in 
any of the State's ports or any molestation by any 
of the said ships at sea or in any of their rivers or 
elsewhere or by any ships in the Commonwealth of 
England whatsoever. 

8th. That the Captain of the Fort be allowed satis- 
faction for building his house in the Fort Island. 

9th. That all persons that are now in this colony of 
what condition or quality soever that have served the 
King here or in England shall be free from all dangers 
and punishments whatever; and this article as all other 
articles to be in as clear terms as the learned in the 
law of terms can express. 

loth. That the same instant the commissioners are 
resigned, an act of oblivion and indemnity be issued out 
under the hands and seals of the commissioners for the 
Parliament and that no person in any court of justice 
in Virginia be questioned for the opinions given in any 
court determined by them. 

nth. That the governor and council shall have 
their passes to go away from hence in any ship within 
a year; and in case they go for London or other places 
in England that they or any one of them shall be free 



[26] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

from any trouble or hindrance of or 

such like in England that they may follow their occa- 
sions for the space of six months after their arrival. 

As will be seen, the most of these relate to the privi- 
leges which the Puritan commissioners are to extend 
to the governor and council. They were accepted by 
the British commander and commissioners and, so far 
as record goes, were obeyed in a spirit of magnanimity. 

This acceptance and the future attitude of the new 
government is in striking contrast to the spirit which 
Berkeley displayed in his correspondence with Charles 
II, as we shall see later. 

The following articles were agreed upon by the com- 
missioners for the Council of State, by authority of 
the Parliament of England and Grand Assembly of the 
governor, council and burgesses, and represent the at- 
titude of the new government toward the people. The 
gains to the people are everywhere manifest: 

1st. It is agreed and insisted that the plantations 
of Virginia and all the inhabitants thereof shall be 
and remain in due obedience and submission to the 
Commonwealth of England, according to the laws 
there established, and that this submission and subscrip- 
tion be acknowledged a voluntary act not forced nor 
constrained by a conquest upon the country, and that 
they have and enjoy such freedom and privileges as 
belong to the free-born people of England and that 
the former government by the commissioners and re- 
strictions be void and null. 

2d. That the Grand Assembly as formerly shall con- 
vene and transact the affairs of Virginia wherein 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



nothing is to be acted or done contrary to the Govern- 
ment of the Commonwealth of England and the laws 
there established. 

3d. That there shall be a full and total submission 
and indemnity of all acts, words, or writings done or 
spoken against the Parliament of England in relation 
to the same. 

4th. That Virginia shall have and enjoy the ancient 
bounds and limits granted by the charters of the former 
kings and that we shall seek a new charter from the 
Parliament to that purpose against any that intrenches 
upon the rights thereof. 

5th. That all patents of land granted under the 
colony seal by any of the precedent governors shall 
be and remain in full force and strength. 

6th. That the privilege of having fifty acres of land 
for every person transported in the colony shall con- 
tinue as formerly granted. 

7th. That the people of Virginia have free trade 
as the people of England do enjoy to all plantations 
and with all nations according to the laws of that Com- 
monwealth, and that Virginia shall enjoy privileges 
equal to the English plantations in America. 

8th. That Virginia shall be free from all taxes, 
customs, and impositions whatsoever, and none to be 
imposed on them without consent of the Grand Assem- 
bly and so that neither forts, nor castles be erected, 
or garrisons maintained without their consent. 

9th. That no charge shall be required from this 
country in respect to this present fleet. 

loth. That for the future settlement of the country 



[28] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

in their due obedience the engagement shall be tendered 
to all the inhabitants according to the act of Parlia- 
ment made to that purpose, that all persons who 
shall refuse to subscribe the said engagement shall 
have a year's time if they please to remove them- 
selves and their estates out of Virginia and in the 
meantime during the said year to have equal justice as 
formerly. 

nth. The use of the Book of Common Prayer shall 
be permitted for one year ensuing with reference to 
the consent of the major part of the parishes provided 
that those which relate to kingship or that Government 
be not used publicly and the continuance of ministers 
in their places they not mis-demeaning themselves and 
the payment of their accustomed dues and agreements 
made with them respectively shall be left as they now 
stand during this ensuing year. 

1 2th. That no man's cattle shall be questioned as 
the companies unless such as have been entrusted with 
them or have disposed of them without order. 

13th. That all ammunition, powder, and arms, other 
than for private use shall be delivered up, security 
being given to make all satisfaction for it. 

14th. That all goods already brought hither by the 
Dutch or others which are now on shore shall be free 
from surprizall. 

15th. That quit rents granted unto us by the late 
king for seven years be confirmed. 

1 6th. That Commissioners for Parliament subscrib- 
ing these articles engage themselves and honor of Par- 
liament for the full performance thereof. And that the 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



present governor and council and burgesses do likewise 
subscribe and engage the whole colony on their parts. 
Signed 

Richard Bennett 
Wm. Clayhorne 
Edmund Curtis 
March 12th, 1651. 

Campbell says, "The administration of the colonial 
government under the Commonwealth was judicious 
and beneficent; the people were free, harmonious and 
prosperous; and while Cromwell's scepter commanded 
the respect of the world, he exhibited toward the in- 
fant and loyal colony a generous and politic lenity; 
and during this interval she enjoyed free trade, legisla- 
tive independence, civil and religious liberty, republican 
institutions and internal peace. The governors, Ben- 
nett, Digges and Matthews, by their patriotic virtues, 
enjoyed the confidence and affection and respect of the 
people; no extravagance, rapacity, corruption or ex- 
tortion, was charged against their administration; in- 
tolerance and persecution were unknown. But rapine, 
corruption, extortion, intolerance and persecution were 
all soon to be revived under the restored dynasty of 
the Stuarts." 

This is a splendid word picture of the conditions 
which prevailed in Virginia during the regime of the 
Puritans. During these years humane regulations were 
made regarding the Indians, lands were apportioned 
them, and there was a strict regard for justice. There 
was extension of the franchise, and for a moment one 



[30] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

almost forgets that he is studying conditions of the 
seventeenth century. But, politically, Puritanism must 
logically be democracy. The franchise was extended 
on the ground that it was "something hard and un- 
agreeable to reason that any persons shall pay equal 
taxes and yet have no votes in elections." An act 
was passed also relative to former Governor Berkeley, 
who had not left the colony as contemplated in the 
articles, but continued his residence at his plantation. 
He was allowed full freedom notwithstanding the fact 
that he was a devoted royalist. There was no persecu- 
tion by the ministers of the Established Church or any 
attempt to force upon the colony a system of church 
government contrary to their wishes. On the other 
hand the colonists were loyal to the new government. 
Not one word in the proceedings indicates restlessness 
or revolution. The greatest deference was paid the 
governors of the new regime. Each in turn was held 
in the highest esteem and Virginia was never more 
prosperous. Fiske quotes from a pamphlet published 
in London in 1649 which gives a picture of one of the 
men who was governor during the days of Puritan 
sway. And this sentiment was never changed in Vir- 
ginia regarding him. Captain Matthews is described 
as a man of plenty, industrious, frugal, the owner of 
slaves who were taught trades, the husband of a daugh- 
ter of Sir Thomas Hinton. He "lives bravely and is 
a true lover of Virginia ; he is worthy of much honor." 
After the death of Oliver Cromwell and the accession 
of Richard to the office of Lord Protector, the Assem- 
bly passed a resolution of loyalty to him. Jefferson 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



says, that **in the contest with the house of Stuart, Vir- 
ginia accompanied the footsteps of the mother country." 
The days of the Puritan Commonwealth in Virginia 
were full of peace, prosperity and happiness for all her 
citizens. 

When Richard Cromwell resigned in England, and, 
on the death of Matthews, the regular governor, the 
Assembly convened and passed two resolutions. The 
first was that the government of Virginia should now 
rest with the Assembly. The second was that Berkeley 
be invited to be the governor. 

Some have said that Berkeley was hurried into office 
by a mob as a protest against the Puritan regime. I 
do not think so. It was felt throughout all the borders 
of Britain that a restoration of the monarchy was not 
distant. Especially was this conviction strong after 
Richard Cromwell had failed to master the situation. 
It seems more reasonable to suppose, in the election of 
Berkeley, that the Assembly believed that it had served 
the best interest of the colony. Berkeley's attitude in- 
dicates that he did not feel that he had been made gov- 
ernor on the crest of a wave of loyalty to the cause 
of the Stuarts, which had swept over the colony. He 
was undoubtedly the representative of the Cavalier 
element which was certainly the stronger element, 
but there was a vast deal of republican senti- 
ment among the people that must be taken into ac- 
count if we are to have a true idea of the conditions. 
When the offer of governorship was made, Berkeley 
did not accept with his accustomed braggadocio. It is 
one instance where his Cavalier character shows to 



[32] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

good advantage. In an address before the Assembly 
he said, "I do therefore in the presence of God and 
you, make this safe protestation for us all that if any 
supreme settled power appears I will immediately lay 
down my commission and will live most submissively 
obedient to any power God shall set over me, as the 
experience of eight years has showed I have done." 
There is no word in the proceedings to show that the 
Assembly was hoping for the restoration. These pro- 
ceedings took place March 13th, 1660, and it was not 
until October nth, 1660, atfer Charles II had been 
proclaimed, that we find expressions concerning His 
Majesty occurring. Berkeley had hoped for the restora- 
tion and had been doing what he could to bring it to 
pass. He had remained in the colony under "various 
pretexts," says Campbell, and had probably kept up a 
secret correspondence with the royal refugee. Some 
have said that he invited Charles to Virginia, but there 
is little foundation for that. Such a profligate would 
have found the colony most uninteresting and prosaic 
in those days, and would probably have been the means 
of bringing untold hardship upon the people. Berke- 
ley's hatred for the Puritans is seen in a letter which 
he wrote to Charles after the Restoration. He says, 
"It was no more, may it please your majesty's flock, 
when your majesty's enemies of that fold had barred 
up the lawful entrance into it, and enclosed the wolves 
of schism and rebellion ready to devour all within it." 
By wolves and rebellion he meant the Puritan and 
republican principles which had been in vogue here. 
This is in striking contrast to the treatment accorded 

[sT] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



him, and a measure of appreciation would have been 
forthcoming from any one except a tyrannous autocrat. 

The spirit of the Cavaliers in the colony is strikingly 
portrayed in a masque which was prepared by one 
of them, and presented by the young men and maidens 
of old Jamestown. This was their view of the Puritan : 

The first scene consists of True Liberty, dressed in 
white, appearing upon a stage, holding in her right 
hand a scepter entwined with myrtle ; on her brow is a 
wreath. Marching across the stage to slow and sol- 
emn music she kneels at an altar. Raising her eyes 
to heaven she repeats : — 

"How long, oh heaven shall power with impious hand, 

In cruel bondage bind proud Britain's land, 

Or heresy in fair Religion's robe 

Usurp her empire and control the globe? 

Hypocrisy in true Religion's name 

Has filled the land of Britain long with shame, 

And Freedom, captive, languishes in chains, 

While with her scepter, Superstition reigns. 

Restore, Oh heaven, the reign of peace and love, 

And let thy wisdom to thy people prove, 

That Freedom too is governed by her rules, 

No toy for children, and no game for fools. 

Freed from restraint, the erring star would fly 

Darkling and guideless through the untravelled sky; 

The stubborn soil would still refuse to yield 

The whitening harvest of the fertile field ; 

The wanton winds when loosened from their caves. 

Would drive the bark uncertain through the waves. 

This magnet lost, the sea, the air, the world, 

To wild destruction would be swiftly hurled, 

And say, just Heaven, Oh, say, is feeble man, 

Alone exempt from thy harmonious plan? 

Shall he alone, in dusky darkness grope, 

Free from restraint and free alas from hope. 

Slave to his passion, his unbridled will, 



[34] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 



Slave to himself and yet a freeman still ? 
No, teach him in his pride to own that he 
Can only in obedience be free, 
That even he can only safely move 
When true to loyalty and true to love," 

A star appears at the other end of the stage and 
moves until it is directly over her. True Liberty then 
arises, extends her arms and triumphantly says, 

"I hail the sign, pure as the starry gem 
Which rested o'er the Babe of Bethlehem ; 
My prayer is heard and heaven's sublime decree 
Will rend our chains and Britain shall be free." 

A Puritan enters. He is dressed in his peculiar garb, 
a peaked hat, black doublet and cloak, black breeches 
and gray hose, square-toed shoes tied up with leather, 
and about his waist a black leather belt from which 
hangs his sword. He is rigidly plain and mechanical 
in his movements. As he appears upon the stage he 
chants : — 

"Arise, O Lord, save me, my God, 
For thou my foes hast stroke 

All on the cheekbone, and the teeth 
Of wicked men hast broke." 

Then he lifts his eyes and engages in prayer while 
True Liberty, smiling contemptuously, proceeds, 

"See where he comes, with visage long and grim, 
Whining with nasal twang his impious hymn ; 
See where he stands nor bows the suppliant knee. 
He apes the publican but acts the Pharisee. 
Snatching the sword of just Jehovah's wrath. 
And damning all who leave his thorny path. 
New by this wand which Hermes with a smile 
Gave to Ulysses in the Circean isle. 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



I will again exert the power divine. 

And change to Britons these disgusting swine." 

Then she waves a sprig of holly over his head and 
he cries out, 

"Ha, what is this? Strange feelings fill my heart. 

Avaunt thee, tempter, I defy thy art ! 

Up, Israel, hasten to your tents and smite 

These sons of Belial and the Amalekite ; 

Philistia is upon us with Goliath. 

Come, call the roll from twelfth of Nehemiah ; 

Gird up your loins, and buckle on your sword. 

Fight with your prayers, yovir powder and the sword. 

How, general, Faint not, — has your spirit sunk? 

Let not God's soldier yield unto a monk." 

But the charm increases and more feebly he says, 

"Curse on the tempter's art ! That heathenish Moly 

Has in an instant changed my nature wholly ; 

The past with all its triumphs is a trance. 

My legs once taught to kneel incline to dance ; 

My voice which to some holy psalm belongs 

Is twisting round into these carnal songs. 

Alas, I'm lost! New thoughts my bosom swell. 

Habakuk, Barebones, Cromwell, fare ye well ; 

Break up conventicles, I do insist ; 

Sing the doxology, and be dismissed." 

As the Puritan concludes, there is a heavy rolling 
sound, and from another part of the stage there come 
the impersonations of Christmas and the Queen of 
May. Christmas is a large, good-natured man dressed 
in white. His hair is powdered and in his right hand 
he holds a large mince pie from which he is eating, 
while in his left there is a huge bowl from which he 
is drinking. Pendants of glass hang from his dress 
— 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

to represent icicles, white paper representing snow 
falls around him. 

The Queen of May is clad in white and her dress is 
covered with flowers, and in her hand she carries the 
May-pole adorned with ribbons of red, white and blue. 
As she takes her place roses fall in showers about her. 

True Liberty then points out these figures to the 

Puritan and says ; — 

"Welcome, ye happy children of the Earth, 

Who strew life's weary way with guileless mirth ! 

Thus joy should ever herald in the morn 

On which the Saviour of the world was born ; 

And thus with rapture should we ever bring, 

Fresh flowers to twine around the brow of spring. 

Think not, stern mortal, God delights to scan 

With fiendish joy the miseries of man; 

Think not the groans that rend your bosom here 

Are music to Jehovah's listening ear. 

Formed by his power, the children of his love, 

Man's happiness delights the Sire above. 

While the light mirth which from his spirit springs 

Ascends like incense to the King of kings." 

Christmas then breaks forth : — 

"My spirit rejoices to hear merry voices 

With a prospect of breaking my fast. 

For with such a lean platter, these drops they call latter 

Were very near being my last. 

"In that cursed conventicle, as chill as an icicle, 
I caught a bad cold in my head, 
And some impudent vassal stole all my wassail, 
And left me small beer in its stead. 

"Of all that is royal, and all that is loyal. 

They made a nice mess of mince meat, 

With their guns and gunpowder, and their prayers that are 

louder, 
But the de'il a mince pie did I eat. 
— 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



"No fat sirloin carving, I scarce kept from starving, 
And my bones have become almost bare, 
As if I were the season of the gunpowder treason, 
To be hallowed with fasting and prayer. 

"If they fancy pulse diet, like the Jews they may try it, 

Though I think it is fit but to die on. 

But may the enamel long keep this new Daniel 

From the den of the brave British Lion. 

"In the juice of the barley I'll drink to King Charley, 
The bright star of royalty risen, 
While merry maids laughing and honest men quaffing 
Shall welcome old Christmas from prison." 

Then the Queen of the May bursts forth with the 
scng: — 

"Come with blooming cheek, Aurora, 

Leading on the merry morn. 
Come with rosy chaplets. Flora — 

See the baby Spring is born. 

"Smile and sing each living creature, 

Britons join me in the strain, 
Lo, the spring is come to nature. 

Come to Albion's land again. 

"Winter's chain of icy iron. 

Melts before the smile of spring. 
Cares that Albion's land environ 

Fade before our rising King. 

"Crown his brow with freshest flowers, 

Weave the chaplet fair as May, 
While the sands with golden hours 

Speed this happy life away. 

"Crown his brow with leaves of laurel, 
Twined with myrtle's branch of peace, 

A hero in fair Britain's quarrel, 
A lover when her sorrows cease. 



[38] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

"Blessings on our royal Master, 

Till in death he lays him down, 
Free from care and from disaster 

To assume a heavenly crown." 

A number of young men and maidens now enter and 
surround the May-pole which has been placed in the 
center of the stage. At first the Puritan gazes with 
horror, but his countenance gradually changes to one 
of admiration. At last, unable to restrain his feelings 
longer, he breaks forth into a weird and hypocritical 
laugh while his feet join in the dance. As the merry 
dancers proceed, he shakes off his Puritan garb, under- 
neath which is the stylish dress of the Cavalier of the 
Court, and with a royal diadem upon his brow, he 
stands before them as the restored Charles the Second. 

This is a Cavalier conception of the exit of Puritan- 
ism from Virginia as well as from the mother country. 
It is true that no more is heard of him in politics or 
religion, and yet his influence in two particulars was 
abiding. The fundamental principle of Puritanism is 
the right of every soul to have direct access to God, 
and from him to receive religious light and authority. 
Hence the conscience of the individual becomes the 
sovereign arbiter. This principle grew out of the 
Reformation. Stripping the Reformation of its po- 
litical trappings, this was its insistence. Roman Ca- 
tholicism insisted that the individual should find God 
through the priest or pope, and accept hierarchical dicta 
as final authority. The Puritan's insistence was the 
right to think for himself. How did this affect his 
institutions? He could not introduce authority in his 

[39] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



ecclesiasticism because it would be at variance with 
his faith. Hence the polity of his church was inde- 
pendent or presbyterial. He could not accept the doc- 
trine of the divine right of kings in politics if he 
rejected the divine right of the pope; hence his po- 
litical system must be democratic or republican in form. 

These two influences were abiding in Virginia. Non- 
conformity in connection with the stern ideas held by 
the Scotch Covenanters, who later came into parts of 
the colony, had a most important bearing upon the 
final type of church worship and life. It is impossible 
to estimate the extent of this influence, and yet the 
fact that Virginia is low church to-day is significant. 
How far this struggle for religious toleration influenced 
the colony, later, it is quite impossible to estimate. 
The Puritan was the pioneer in this struggle. Be- 
cause of him, and later because of Scotch Presbyterians 
of the same temper, the statute of Virginia for re- 
ligious freedom was made possible. Jefferson was the 
champion of an influence that was recognized in the 
entire colony. 

Puritan influence in the political life of Virginia did 
not pass away with a wave of the wand as pictured 
in the masque. There was the fundamental principle 
of local self-government growing out of this faith, and 
this led to a new conception of the rights of man. 
Political authority must rest upon the consent of the 
governed. Here in Virginia you find this thought so 
deeply seated, that autocracy was impossible as a per- 
manent institution. Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 revealed 
to Governor Berkeley that the political spirit of Puri- 



[40] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

tanism was not dead. And when the Revolution came 
one hundred years later, the Old Dominion fairly rang 
in its championship of this same political principle. 
Thus Puritanism in Virginia is one of the early factors 
to be reckoned with in both religion and politics. 

In Maryland 

The movements of the Puritan and Scotch Cov- 
enanter colonies are the historical romances of the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. To them, how- 
ever, it was not romance but stern necessity. When 
the Puritans were driven from Virginia during the 
days of the tyrannical Berkeley, they settled in Mary- 
land on the invitation of Governor Stone, who was a 
Protestant from Virginia, and had been made governor 
of the new province with the stipulation attached to 
his oath of office that he was not to molest any Roman 
Catholic. It was a part of his plan to bring into Mary- 
land five hundred British or Irish settlers. The flight 
of Durand and Bennett into his colony led him to 
enter into negotiations with them relative to the re- 
moval of the Puritans of Nansemond, Va. The gov- 
ernor was much pleased with the prospect, and believed 
that the entire number in Virginia could be persuaded 
to come. Therefore, an official invitation was ex- 
tended, and with it a guaranty of the free exercise 
of their religion and local government, besides large 
tracts of land. It would seem from some accounts of 
the difficulties which occurred later, that the governor 
had exceeded his authority, and promised liberties 
— 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



which he could not make good. After considerable 
correspondence, however, the Virginia Puritans ac- 
cepted his invitation, the deciding issue with them 
seeming to have been an act of the Assembly denounc- 
ing the execution of Charles I, and making it treason 
to utter a sentiment against the Stuart right to suc- 
cession. They had already entered into correspondence 
with the Lord Proprietor of Maryland, but had not 
heard from him as to his confirmation of the prom- 
ises of the governor, when the bold and defiant action 
of Berkeley hastened their decision and departure, and 
in the summer of 1649, Virginia's Cavalier governor 
congratulated himself that the state was at last to be 
free from these religious pests. From the old home 
to the new was a long and toilsome journey in those 
days, and it was nearly a year before all had reached 
their settlement in Maryland near the month of the 
Severn. On landing they significantly called it Provi- 
dence, a name which was later given to the whole 
section of country. It was not long until there was a 
long line of plantations with log houses, in the midst 
of which was a small settlement similar to a New 
England town. In the town at Greenberry's point, 
they built their meeting-house, and revived again the 
political and religious ideals characteristic of the Puri- 
tan, whether he was found in New England, Maryland 
or the Barbados. 

The colony soon had perfected its organization to a 
greater degree than had ever been known in Virginia. 
Many additions were being continually made to the 
colony from dififerent quarters. In 1650, Robert Brooke, 



[42] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

an influential and wealthy Puritan of England, was 
granted two thousand acres on the Patuxent River. 
Here he settled with a family of ten and about forty 
white indentured servants. He must have been a per- 
son of some authority and standing, as he was made 
commander of the county, and given feudal supremacy 
over his colony. They constituted a different settle- 
ment from that at Providence, resulting in varied 
ideals. Brooke, with autocratic power practically in 
his possession, became a dictator, while the system of 
local government in the other settlement distributed 
authority and made democracy. There was constant 
clashing of interests and open ruptures, many going 
finally from Brooke's colony over into the other. The 
Brooke colony finally lost its Puritan characteristics 
altogether and identified itself with the colony of St. 
Mary joining them on the other side. 

The Puritans of Providence became influential with 
the officials, and the governor invited them to send 
burgesses to the Assembly. This they at first refused 
to do, giving as their reasons that it was their inten- 
tion in removing to Maryland to found an independent 
community with local government, and thus be free 
from the strife and contentions which must necessarily 
exist when different parties were represented in an 
Assembly where each was striving for an advantage. 
Their experiences with Berkeley in Virginia were of 
recent memory, and they wished no more. Their ideal 
was to make a Puritan state upon the banks of the 
Chesapeake which should bear the name of Providence. 
But Governor Stone had a different notion. In a 

. ^^ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



personal visit to the colony he finally persuaded them 
to send representatives, and George Puddington and 
William Cox were chosen. Mr. Cox was chosen 
speaker of the house and the Protestant elements in 
the colony believed that this presaged a happy day for 
them. The Assembly voted extra revenues for Lord 
Proprietor Baltimore. In these measures the Roman 
Catholics held aloof. The Providence settlement was 
made into a county and named for Anne Arundel, the 
lately deceased wife of Baltimore. Governor Stone 
had not had the sanction of Lord Baltimore for this 
advanced step, and yet it met with no disapproval. In 
this way the Puritans became citizens of Maryland and 
responsible to the provincial authority, and their dreams 
of a separate state vanished. We might have had 
fourteen, instead of thirteen, colonies if they had not 
yielded to the solicitations of Stone. 

All persons receiving land in Maryland were com- 
pelled to acknowledge Baltimore as "Absolute Lord." 
This the Puritans refused to do, saying that such lan- 
guage was in the tone of omnipotence, and, further- 
more, that Lord Baltimore himself was a subject of 
a Puritan government in England. The oath was mod- 
ified by the Assembly without much difficulty at this 
time, but later became a source of discord. Governor 
Stone visited the county soon after the meeting and 
adjournment of the Assembly, and perfected its politi- 
cal organization, Mr. Lloyd being appointed com- 
mander and seven other men as justices, with any three 
of whom he could hold a court. This court was to 
have jurisdiction in all cases, and yet the accused had 



[44] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

the right of an appeal in cases involving not less than 
two thousand pounds of tobacco. The commander 
could grant lands to new settlers within his jurisdic- 
tion, subject to the conditions of the plantations. After 
this organization, the Puritans withdrew from further 
participation in politics, being satisfied, apparently, that 
their government was sufficiently local in its character. 
To participate in the affairs of the province meant in- 
creased taxation and also relations with those with 
whom they desired no intercourse. The triumph of 
Cromwell in England and Ireland and the close sym- 
pathies of Baltimore with royalty they felt endangered 
his charter, and they did not wish to be involved when 
the end came ; in which purpose they were right. 

They were summoned to send burgesses to the As- 
sembly to meet in 1651 ; but they sent a letter of dec- 
lination instead. This refusal resulted in a long letter 
from Baltimore in which he spoke of their contu- 
macious audacity in thus declaring local independence, 
asserting that there was no ground for their fears and 
that the consequences of such rebellious action must be 
severe from their true Lord and Proprietor. Never- 
theless the suspicions of the Puritans were correct re- 
garding the stability of his tenure, for Berkeley of Vir- 
ginia, who was always a bigoted loyalist, had informed 
Charles II, then an exile, that Baltimore had given 
refuge to "all kinds of sectaries and schismatics and 
ill-affected persons, adherents to the rebels in England, 
who for this cause had been driven from Virginia," 
and for this reason Charles had revoked the charter 
of Baltimore. 

" Usl '_ ' 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



The open espousal of the cause of the Stuarts led 
the Commonwealth of England to appoint commission- 
ers to suppress all disaffection and compel Maryland 
and Virginia by force to accept their authority. After 
Berkeley had been suppressed in 1652, and a Puritan 
commonwealth established in Virginia, the commis- 
sioners, consisting of Clayborne, Bennett, Stagge and 
Denis, turned their attention to Maryland. On reach- 
ing Maryland there was an attempt at compromise with 
Governor Stone and his Council, but their proposals 
were rejected. Their proposition in brief was that the 
exisiting administration "should continue conforming 
themselves to the laws and commonwealth in point of 
government only, not infringing the Lord Baltimore's 
right." These terms being rejected, the commissioners 
organized a provisional government with Robert 
Brooke of Patuxent as president and six councilmen 
associated with him. The Puritans at Providence were 
not represented in this Council, but two of Stone's 
Council were retained. Three months later the con- 
sciences of Stone and his remaining councilors had 
become sufficiently elastic to accept the new order. 
They ignored their past loyalties to royalty and seemed 
to accept freely and fully the Commonwealth of Eng- 
land and its laws. Thus Maryland became a Puritan 
province, politically at least. 

Thurloe, in his state papers, says that the commis- 
sion from Parliament to these commissioners contained 
the following: "You shall cause and see all the several 
acts of Parliament against kingship and the house of 
lords to be received and published as also the acts for 



[46] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

establishing the Book of Common Prayer and for sub- 
scribing to the engagement, you or any two of you, to 
administer an oath to the inhabitant or planter there 
to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth of Eng- 
land as it is now established without a king and house 
of lords." Maryland was now being administered in 
the light of this commission with Stone as governor. 

On July 5th, 1652, five leaders of the Providence 
Colony, acting as a committee, met the Indians on the 
western shores of the Severn to conclude a treaty of 
peace. This is supposed to have occurred under the 
branches of a large poplar on the present site of An- 
napolis. The Puritans felt the need of this treaty as 
they were in the wilds surrounded by savages, without 
equipment for protection or ammunition. The treaty 
was scarcely concluded when the governor determined 
to make an advance against the Indians of the eastern 
shore, William Fuller, one of the peace commissioners, 
being appointed the leader of the expedition. The 
Puritans protested against this and refused to partic- 
ipate on the ground that it was an unwarranted at- 
tack on the Indians. The plan was abandoned, but the 
governor was wroth, and claimed that its failure was 
due to the disloyalty of the Puritans. His charges 
were answered, but the only result of this was the 
summary removal of Mr. Lloyd as the Commander of 
Providence and the beginning of a series of perse- 
cutions which finally led to the overthrow of Stone's 
government. In December, 1653, Governor Stone pro- 
claimed that all persons in the colony should take the 
oath of loyalty to Lord Baltimore or forfeit their 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



lands, a proclamation which was in direct violation of 
his agreement and which could mean nothing but 
trouble. 

A meeting of i-'uritan freemen was held at their 
meeting-house, and Mr. Lloyd was made chairman. 
Petitions were addressed to Lord Baltimore and to the 
Council of State, but these were never answered. An 
appeal signed by seventy-one persons was also made 
to the commissioners who were then in Virginia, in 
which they said, after narrating their grievances, "Nor 
can we be persuaded in our consciences by any light 
of God or engagement upon us to take such an oath 
nor do we see by what lawful authority such an oath 
with such extreme penalties can by his Lordship be 
exacted of us who are free subjects of the Common- 
wealth of England and have taken the engagement to 
them." The commissioners' answer was "Simply obey 
the laws of the Commonwealth of England as true 
and loyal English citizens and that is all that can be 
desired or expected." Another petition from the Puri- 
tans on the Patuxent, signed by Richard Preston and 
sixty others, had brought a like reply. Governor Stone 
followed this by issuing writs and warrants in the 
name of the Lord Proprietor, ignoring the Common- 
wealth that had created his office. This high-handed 
action brought the commissioners from Virginia. War 
was the only alternative. Under the leadership of 
Bennett, the Puritans proceeded to St. Mary and cap- 
tured it without resistance, after which Puritan su- 
premacy was, for the second time, acknowledged in 
Maryland. Stone gave up his office, and a new gov- 



[48] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

ernment was formed modeled after the Council of 
State, Of the new council four were from Provi- 
dence, three from Patuxent and three from St. 
Mary, the Roman Catholics being defranchised as 
well as all others who had borne arms against Parlia- 
ment. 

When the Assembly convened in October, it changed 
the name Anne Arundel to Providence, and thus it 
remained until 1676 when it disappeared. The As- 
sembly also affirmed again the disfranchisement of 
Roman Catholics, and passed a law that all preexist- 
ing debts in the colony were valid. Governor Stone in 
the meantime was making protests, and submission to 
the new order was not universal. Stone entered into 
a communication with Lord Baltimore reciting in full 
the doings in the colony, the envoy returning in the 
fall of 1654 with letters from him which recognized 
Stone as governor and his council the legal governing 
body. This authority led Stone to make preparations 
for war in order to retake his office. He sent an 
armed force of twenty men to the home of Richard 
Preston to secure the records, which were taken with 
little difficulty. When the Puritan Council sitting at 
the Severn sent a messenger asking by what authority 
he had done this, he intimated that Cromwell had given 
his sanction. Preparations for war were made, and 
exaggerated reports of his strength and the numbers 
following him spread over the colony. A deputation 
v/as despatched to him with the following instructions. 
If he would guarantee their demands the whole diffi- 
culty would be adjusted and his authority would be 

u7i 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



recognized. They asked that he give them assurances 
that the following articles would be obeyed : — 
1st. Liberty of English subjects. 
2d. Indemnification for late troubles. 
3d. Liberty to leave the Province if they desired. 

If these were not granted, they said, "We are re- 
solved to commit ourselves into the hands of God and 
rather die like men than be made slaves." Their com- 
munication fell on deaf ears. There was no disposition 
on the part of the governor to do anything but to 
teach these revolutionists a lesson which would not 
soon be forgotten, for he was now confident of victory. 
The arbiter was to be the sword, and the Puritan was 
not idle after his last effort for peace had proven 
a failure. 

The Puritans seized an English bark and a small New 
England fishing boat in the name of the common- 
wealth, and this was to constitute their fleet in the 
impending struggle. They came together on the plan- 
tations of Fuller and Durand near their meeting-house 
where they prepared for the struggle, spending one 
whole night after the preparations in prayer. 

Stone had two hundred and fifty men composed of 
a few Cavaliers, roughs and those devoted to royalty. 
He had counted on the help of the English bark, and 
all unaware of the fact that it was now manned by 
Puritans, he pushed across the river with his boats 
directly toward it. They came on in their happiest 
and most hilarious mood until within a short distance 
when a gun was fired into their midst which caused 
alarm to spread among them. Amid cursing and revil- 



[50] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

ing they pushed out of the way and anchored, after 
pulling their boats up a small stream a short distance. 
Here was an opportunity not to be missed. The fish- 
ing boat, well-armed, was placed at the mouth of the 
stream to prevent escape and the next morning the 
Puritans crossed the river and proceeded up above the 
company of Stone's, thus surrounding them without 
their knowing it. It was a splendid trap. 

There are very few details known of the battle. The 
Puritans began the attack. Stone was ready for their 
coming, his confident company having banners flying 
and drums beating. Martial spirit was rife among 
them, and they were eager for the fray. On Stone's 
main flag were the words, "Hey for St. Mary's and 
wives for us all," which were typical of the Cavalier 
influences in the new world. 

The Puritans, on the other hand, were solemn, but 
no less in earnest, for they were fighting for their 
liberties. One night had been spent in prayer and with 
God on their side they must not yield. On their stand- 
ard was the motto, "In the name of God fall on." 
There were no drums, no rowdyism, no martial music, 
but in their places were humility, prayer and a grim 
determination to win. 

In the contest Stone was defeated with a loss of 
fifty killed or wounded, while nearly all the rest were 
taken prisoners. The Puritan loss was six killed. 
Many of the prisoners were condemned, but not all of 
the executions took place, though three men were ac- 
tually hanged. The Puritans were lenient considering 
the conditions and the time, and pardons were numer- 
_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



ous for those who had participated in the expedition 
with Stone. Thirty-seven were fined while others 
were pardoned on condition of returning stolen goods, 
building pillories and ducking-stools. This was the 
culmination of the power and influence of Stone in 
the colony as well as with the Lord Proprietor. In 
July, 1656, Josias Fendall was commissioned Lieu- 
tenant-Governor and a council of five, consisting 
of Stone's allies, was appointed to cooperate with 
him. 

Maryland had two governments. The Puritan Coun- 
cil was in authority, and three months later Fendall 
was arrested, but later released on his taking the oath 
of obedience and good behavior. His attempt to stir 
up the colony by arraigning sect against sect and en- 
gaging the Indians in controversy, while at the same 
time Lord Baltimore was negotiating with the Puritan 
commissioners in England, is a good example of the 
methods and dishonesties employed in attempts at gov- 
ernment in the colonies. In England the negotiations 
had been referred by Cromwell to his Lords Commis- 
sioners. In May, 1656, their report was made. It con- 
tained two particulars: — 

1st. The right of the Proprietor to the Province. 

2d. Concessions to the Puritans in the nature of 
guaranties. 

These had been their sole contention before the 
battle of the Severn. In November, 1657, Lord Balti- 
more signed the agreement, which was then sent 
to Maryland, where Fendall read it to his council, 
February 27th, 1658. A joint meeting of the represen- 



[52] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

tatives of the two governments was then called, and met 
March 22d, 1658. Their first meeting since the Severn 
was held in a large hall where the rival governments 
sat and listened. After reading the report Captain 
Fuller interposed some minor objections on the part 
of the Puritans. Three amendments were offered 
which had for their object the shifting of blame. The 
Puritans contended that they were not entirely at fault 
and were not now surrendering. Two of the amend- 
ments were adopted, and the document was then signed 
by all present, thus ending Puritan government as such 
in the province. 

The years which followed brought peace and plenty. 
The Puritans preserved their traditions and ideals, and 
enjoyed the confidence of all their neighbors. During 
these peaceful days another company of people moved 
in among them who were destined to modify not only 
their life and customs, but also those of the entire 
province. The Puritans in Maryland unlike their 
brethren in Massachusetts welcomed the Quakers into 
their midst after they had been expelled from Virginia 
and had sought refuge in Maryland. Military service 
was required of all men in the colony, and this the 
Quaker refused to render. In 1660 John Everett had 
been enlisted for an Indian expedition, but refused to 
go, pleading conscientious scruples. He was ordered 
to be tried, and "in the meantyme the said Everett to 
be kept in chaynes and heate his own bread." They 
also refused to take the oath when appointed to civil 
office and this led to friction and removal. But still 
they became influential in the very heart of Puritan 
— - 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



influences. George Fox is said to have preached 
among them in one of the meeting-houses built by 
Puritans. 

Lord Baltimore never became kindly disposed to his 
Puritan settlers. After the conspiracy of Fendall, v^ho 
attempted to wrest all authority from him and failed, 
a general order of pardon was sent to the colony, in 
which is found the following reference: "Yea if there 
be need you may proceed against them by Court Mar- 
tial Law and upon no terms pardon Fendall so much 
as for life. No, if you can do it without hazarding the 
Province to pardon so much as for life any of those 
that sat in the Council of War at Ann Arundel and 
concurred in the sentence of death against Mr. Elton- 
head or other of any honest friends murdered then and 
there and who are engaged in this second rebellion." 
Captain Fuller, the Puritan, was outlawed, published 
as violent and incendiary and compelled to live in 
seclusion. 

The plantations of Providence, although increasing 
as the years passed, were unprotected and seem to have 
suffered much from marauding Indians. Mr. Lloyd 
writing in 1662 said, "Nightly whooping and shooting- 
is heard, and cattle coming home frightened." It was 
because of these difficulties that homes began to be 
built at the mouth of the river so that the people 
would be nearer each other. Here there was a Puritan 
meeting-house, and here was the beginning of the 
future city of Annapolis. In 1694, Severn received the 
name Annapolis, at which time it was reported "as 
being the richest and most populous county of the 



[54] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

Province." St. Mary's, after the removal of the capi- 
tal, soon gave way to tobacco fields. 

Puritan history from this time on is less and less 
distinct and soon is lost altogether. 

What did these Puritans give to Maryland? 

It had been the purpose of the Proprietors to es- 
tablish in Maryland the old manorial life. The prov- 
ince was divided into manorial holdings but only two 
or three were ever fully established with their courts 
of justice. The old manor of England consisted of 
several thousand acres of land upon which lived the 
serfs, who sustained a peculiar relation to the soil. 
They were not slaves and yet they could not leave the 
land. They were chained to the ground by the weight 
of centuries. The manor was divided into three large 
fields in which three crops were cultivated. Week's 
work and boon day were the services they owed the 
lord, besides certain presents and special services at 
stated seasons. Courts were established on the manor 
in which all power was in the hands of the few. The 
attempt to establish the old manor in Maryland was 
one of the economic struggles of autocracy against 
democracy. 

The Puritan in Maryland emphasized the essentials 
of democracy. He believed in conscience as his guide 
in religion and insisted on local self-government. Both 
of these were in conflict with autocratic notions. And 
after the Quakers found a refuge among them, with 
their advanced notions of brotherhood, their contribu- 
tion to democracy became even more marked. The 
Puritan passed, but the battles he fought, and the prin- 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



ciples for which he contended have become one of 
the glorious heritages of that great commonwealth. 

In South Carolina 

A passenger on one of the first ships landing colo- 
nists at Charleston, S. C, was described by an Estab- 
lished Churchman as being "an arrant knave and igno- 
rant preacher." It is quit^ probable that this epithet 
had reference to a Puritan minister, as it is a historical 
certainty that there were Puritans among the first set- 
tlers, old Captain Sayle, who landed the settlers at 
Oyster Point, just above the present site of the city, 
being one. 

There were no less than three distinct Puritan com- 
munities in South Carolina, — one known in South 
Carolina as Wappetaw, originally coming from Massa- 
chusetts, had intended landing at Charleston, but dur- 
ing a storm was shipwrecked on the upper coast. 
The Indians treated them kindly, and they made a 
settlement naming it and their church, which lasted 
until 1876, Wappetaw. The history of the old Dor- 
chester Colony, which is seventeen miles above 
Charleston, will be told in the story of Puritanism in 
Georgia. The old church of these people was still 
standing at the time of the earthquake in 1886. 

The story of the Puritans in Charleston is intimately 
connected with their church, there being very few 
records, except those of their church, to show the di- 
viding line between them and other residents. The 
early settlers of Charleston were composed of English- 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

men of the Established Church, Frenchmen of the 
Huguenot Church, Scotch of the Kirk, and English- 
men of the Baptist Church, the Dissenters being in 
the majority. The old First Baptist Church, the 
Huguenot Church, St. Philip's Church, can all date 
their history previous to the year 1700, all of them 
probably having originated between the years 1680 and 
1690. 

The Independent Church was made up of Puritans 
from old England and New England, besides the Scotch 
and Scotch-Irish. Their pastors came from England 
or from New England, and they have a record of these 
before 1700, among the number being the name of John 
Cotton. A letter addressed to Rev. Drs. Guyse, Jen- 
nings and Doddridge from the community in 1750 says 
that "upwards of sixty years ago we have been a 
Church." One of the oldest histories of the church 
says that they had been there from the beginning of 
the history of the city, even going back to the settle- 
ment at Oyster Point. 

The same history also says, "The early records of 
the Church were lost during the great hurricane in the 
fall of 1713. They were at the time in possession of 
the Rev. Mr. Livingston, who lived in a wooden house 
on White Point near the present locality of our beau- 
tiful White Point Battery and Garden at the foot of 
East Bay Street. The violence of the hurricane was 
such as to beat off the weather boards of the building, 
and carry away the book which contained the church 
record, and the furniture on the lower floor of the 
house — a statement founded on the authority of the 

_- 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



late venerable Josiah Smith, formerly a Deacon and 
long the Treasurer of the Church, who died February 
I2th, 1826, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, 
he having received the information from old Peter 
Dart, a black man, who in 1713 waited on Mr. 
Livingston and narrowly escaped with his life from 
the ravages and perils of the tempest." This ac- 
counts for the absence of records previous to that 
time. 

In sending a call, in 1724, to Boston, Massachusetts, 
for a minister, there appear the names of Matthews, 
Carmichael, Fraser, Ballantine, Ellis, Massey, Barey, 
Morris, Townsend, Varieor, Scott, Plummer, Jeffords, 
Bedon, Fladger, Bohanan, Barksdale, Mellins, Jones, 
Holton, Wells, Simmons, Eveleigh, Van Velsan, Per- 
onnean, Legare, Bellamy, Holmes, Milner, Saltus, 
Campbell, Moody, Brewton, Ducat, and Mariner. 
The great majority of these are English while 
some are French or Scotch. There were never any 
sectarian rivalries in Charleston between these Dissent- 
ers, for all agreed that they were essentially standing 
for the same principles. This would probably account 
for the appearance of French and Scottish names in 
the Puritan Church. There must have been a con- 
siderable growth in the community between the years 
1724 and 1734. Beginning in 1731, the Scotch element 
felt strong enough to withdraw and finally was able 
to occupy another church in 1734, making two strong 
parishes in later years. 

The original church was about forty feet square. 
It was rebuilt in 1729, and speaking of it at the time, 



[58] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

they described it "as having by long time gone to decay 
and become very old and out of repair." This would 
indicate that at least one generation had passed 
away by this time. At this time there were one 
hundred and four subscribers, giving the sum £8322 
and 15s, and a little later supplementing this by 
£324. 

In the pew assignments at this time appear the fol- 
lowing names in addition to those already given: 
Charles Pinckney, Samuel Fley, Daniel Crawford, Wil- 
liam Worden, Thomas Cooper, John Dart, John and 
Edmund Atkin, William Cleland, Benjamin Savage, 
Mary Owen, George Hisket, Andrew Allen, Thomas 
Lamboll, Othniel Beale, Henry Livingston. Neither 
the call nor pew assignments would necessarily deter- 
mine the number of people in the community identified 
with their interest, for there were those who did not 
own pews. 

Their old church in the annals of the city has been 
spoken of frequently as the "White Meeting." "The 
New England Meeting" in the early days was a term 
also used to designate it, and later, in the nineteenth 
century, it began to be known as "Circular." "The 
W^hite Meeting" was a term in use because of the 
color of the exterior of the building; "The New 
England Meeting" because Puritans in coming from 
that section to Charleston joined this communion; 
while the word "Circular" came into use on account 
of the architectural features of the famous building 
erected in 1804. 

Their democratic character is evidenced by a vote 

[59] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



which was passed in 1750, by which "the power of 
nominating, suspending, or displacing pastors is to be 
vested in such freemen as are members for the time 
being in full communion by consent of the pastor and 
members of the church who had contributed to the 
support thereof for at least two years, last past, a 
majority of two-thirds of such supporting members be- 
ing necessary in case of dispute, either to nominate, 
suspend or remove a pastor; and whenever an assist- 
ant should be judged necessary to the pastor, such 
other freemen as had been supporters for two years, 
then last past, are admitted to vote for and choose 
such an assistant by a plurality of votes." This spirit 
has always characterized it whether it was a struggle 
in the church or for the state. 

Their relations to their negroes is also worthy of 
notice. These were given an assignment in the church, 
the privilege of membership and communion, and the 
best religious counsel and instruction. The result of 
this was a class of negroes superior in knowledge and 
deportment. It has been customary in the North to 
emphasize the brutal character of slavery, and there 
were instances, no doubt. But a close view will con- 
vince any candid student that freedom has been far 
more brutal to the average negro than was slavery. 
There is no evidence of any brutalizing effect upon 
the characters of the Puritans. A study of the lives 
of many of these men, in the light of the epitaphs 
written of them as well as from contemporaneous 
sources, reveals a sincere Christian life in all their 
relations. The epitaph placed on a marble slab 



[60] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

in the church in memory of one of them reads 
thus : — 

"By this Church, this monument is consecrated 
to the memory of 

Josiah Smith Esq. 
Her eldest Deacon and Treasurer 
Who with fidelity, munificence and 
Exemplary piety, having executed these 
Offices for half a century, 
Peacefully fell asleep in Jesus 

On the i2th of February, 1826, in his gsth year. 
In the life of this patriarch, shone with 
Steady light whatever exemplifies and 
Adorns the Christian character, 
His principles of Religion were fixed and steady 
But unostentatious and tempered with liberality. 
He was meek in conduct, conciliating in manners, 
Industrious in business, conscientious in his 
Dealings, charitable to the Poor, and in what 
Concerned his country. Firm and Patriotic. 
Of this Church he was a zealous and beneficent 
Patron, dedicating, throughout the course of 
His long life, his Purse, His Counsel, his Labors 
And his bright example. 

To its spiritual growth and secular prosperity. 
To the great cause of American Independence 
He early devoted himself and all that 
Was dear to him, 
And tho' severely tried by Captivity 
Imprisonment and a Persecuting Exile 

At St. Augustine 
His confidence in his God, and Invincible 
Constancy to his country, triumphed 

Over them all. 
For Instruction and Example to Posterity 
And to honor the Memory of a man so worthy 
This Monument is dedicated." 

Frequently on these headstones you will find the 
words, "Kind Master," indicating his relation to his 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



slaves. The above is not exceptional, and neither is 
it an exaggeration. A study of this man's life reveals 
the temper and spirit here eulogized. This will serve 
the purpose of showing that slavery was not entirely in 
the hands of wicked and ferocious men who brutalized 
their characters in its traffic. 

This eulogy also serves another purpose, in that it 
mentions this man's contribution to the War for In- 
dependence. It is generally conceded by historians 
that the Revolution was carried forward to a success- 
ful culmination by a minority in the colonies, all agree- 
ing that only parts of the South were ever enthusiastic. 
But this community staked everything upon its suc- 
cess. Evidence for this is found not only on the monu- 
ments, but also in the treatment which they received 
when the British captured Charleston. Their church 
building was wrecked, the people banished, and their 
services discontinued. The members were the real 
backbone of the Revolution, assisted by the Scotch- 
Irish. During the British occupation of the city they 
used the church building for a hospital and later for 
a storehouse. A historian, in detailing the circum- 
stances, says: "When the British vandals evacuated 
the city, December 14th, 1782, they left nothing but 
the shell of the ancient edifice — the pulpit and pews 
having been taken down and destroyed and the empty 
enclosure used first as a hospital for the sick, and 
afterwards as a storehouse of provisions for the royal 
army. Even the right of sepulture in the cemetery was 
denied to the families of worshipers who were in 
Charleston after her capitulation as prisoners of war. 



[62] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

About thirty-eight heads of these families had been ex- 
iled, partly to St. Augustine in 1780, and partly to 
Philadelphia in 1781. The exiles in Philadelphia, even 
while the royal army yet occupied Charleston, antici- 
pating a speedy departure of the foe, took provisional 
measures for the supply and recognition of their church 
as soon as it should be delivered from thraldom. The 
remnant in Charleston began from the time of the 
evacuation to devise means for the repair of their di- 
lapidated and desecrated temple, and a subscription 
was opened for that purpose. The repairs were soon 
completed at a cost of $6000, and the renovated edifice 
opened and consecrated anew to divine worship De- 
cember nth, 1783, with an excellent and appropriate 
sermon, from the recently arrived pastor, the Rev. 
William Hollinshead, D.D., this very day appointed by 
Congress as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God, 
for the blessilr^s of peace and independence." 

The Puritans were the sufferers, as they had been 
the leaders, in this struggle. Their story in Charles- 
ton, and that of the Scotch-Irish at Williamsburg, is 
worthy of a larger place in the revolutionary annals 
of the South. In fact it would not be far wrong to 
assert that the English and Scotch-Irish Puritans bore 
the brunt of the entire struggle which resulted in 
American Independence. 

That these people were not only among the leading, 
but also the well-to-do, people of the city is attested 
by the meeting-house which they constructed in the 
year 1804, which was probably the finest church in the 
South and among the best in the whole country. After 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



the Revolution, they had not only resurrected their 
old meeting-house but had built another. Within fif- 
teen years all the pews were taken in both and plans 
were begun for the construction of a new building on 
the Meeting Street site. On the 13th of February, 
1804, it was resolved to build a new brick church 
of a circular form, with an eighty-eight-feet interior 
diameter. The arguments in favor of this were: 
that it was the least expensive mode of enclos- 
ing any requisite area of a church; that it admitted 
of such a location of the pulpit and pews as brought 
the whole audience more completely in view of the 
preacher, and also the preacher in view of the hearers ; 
and that it required less exertion on the part of the 
minister, besides being favorable for distinct hearing. 
After much deliberation the plan was adopted. During 
the two years which were necessary in tearing down 
the old and building the new, the people worshiped in 
South Carolina Hall. They had planned on spending 
$60,000 for the new edifice, but it cost much more than 
that. The pews were sold at auction, omitting the 
northern half of the gallery, which was given to the 
four hundred negro attendants. It was finally agreed 
that sixty pews should be sold to the highest bidders, 
and afterward the surplus should be assigned on a 
valuation to the former worshipers, who, in propor- 
tion to their respective claims as contributors to the 
old church, should have a priority of choice, a title in 
fee simple being given for each pew. The total amount 
received by this means netted nearly fifty thousand 
dollars at this time, with an annual income in rental 



[64] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

of nearly four thousand dollars. Other pews which 
had been reserved were sold, and thus the costly edi- 
fice was paid for and the great church was dedicated 
in 1806. 

In this they worshiped for nearly fifty years with- 
out much change, except that the community grew 
larger and more prosperous. In the year 1852, the 
Honorable Henry Pinckney brought before the cor- 
poration the propriety of an extensive repair and im- 
provement of the then famous Circular edifice, so as 
to insure its safety and durability, and render it an 
architectural ornament to the city. He succeeded in 
enlisting a majority of the members and supporters in 
favor of the proposition. From the Clergy Society 
they secured a grant of eighteen thousand dollars. 
Not only repairs were made, but also alterations. On 
the exterior, the portico, which should have been a 
monument as well as a useful appendage, was unsightly 
owing to the disregard of all proportion. With the 
moldings of the Doric order, the strongest, simplest 
and grandest of all the orders, the columns rose with 
a lightness and weakness in assimilation to the Co- 
rinthian order and set at defiance all laws of architec- 
ture. On measurement it was found that by adding to 
the diameter of the columns and fluting them, the cor- 
rect proportions of the Corinthian style could be ob- 
tained. This being done produced a column of the 
Roman Corinthian order enriched with acanthus leaf 
capitals and medallions which stood forth in full beauty 
and perfect proportion. Another feature in the ex- 
terior which demanded change was the steeple. The 
_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



space of its ascending lines was rudely broken by un- 
seemly excrescences, plainly visible even to the casual 
wayfarer. In correcting this, the exterior projecting 
galleries were removed and balustrades placed between 
were enriched with ornamental work of appropriate 
design. The whole exterior was also recolored in imi- 
tation of stone, and the lantern on the summit rendered 
a sightly object. There were more changes in the in- 
terior. The high, flat dome seemed always to menace 
impending destruction to the assembled congregation, 
and the first question was not. Why does it not rise? 
but, Why does it not fall? To relieve its heaviness 
and to give it an air of lightness, and thus remove a 
constant source of apprehension, ribs were run, dimin- 
ishing and converging toward the center, thus breaking 
the heavy monotony of the ceiling and adding much by 
false perspective to the apparent height. Another bad 
feature of the ceiling was also rectified. The interior 
cornice at the foot of the dome was broken by every 
window in the gallery, which added much to the ap- 
parent weakness of the interior. This was removed and 
a new cornice run over the heads of the windows, 
which, being unbroken, seemed fully capable of support- 
ing and binding together the ribs which fell down upon 
it. The interior of the lantern at the summit of the 
dome was likewise improved by being surrounded at its 
base with a beautiful chandelier of elegant design. 
From this point the interior of the church was to be 
lighted by means of a new and improved combination 
of gas-burners readily lit below by means of a single 
jet aways ignited. 



[66] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

The galleries were completely remodeled. The floor 
of the church was raised towards the doorway to place 
the pews on an inclined plane, thus giving the large 
congregation an uninterrupted view of the minister. 
New and elegant pews replaced the plain ones, and an 
enriched platform and pulpit, with lifting chandeliers 
of classic design, gave a noble elegance to the whole. 
Aisles were diminished in number and increased in size. 
A carpet was placed on the floor and cushions in the 
pews. The old pulpit was removed and a new one took 
its place, in keeping with the rich and luxurious char- 
acter of the whole. 

The steeple was completed in advance of the build- 
ing in 1838, and from base to ball was 182 feet. It 
had been common in Charleston in referring to it to 
say, — 

"Charleston is a pious place, 

And full of pious people, 

They built a church in Meeting Street 

But could not raise the steeple." 

This saying was no longer applicable. 

The historian in referring to the completed structure 
says, "It is of beautiful and tasteful design, and to the 
rites of religion have been given a temple worthy of 
classic days, and to our city a noble and architectural 
monument and trophy befitting her coronation as Queen 
of the South." 

I have related the story of this Puritan church build- 
ing for a purpose. Beginning with a plain structure, 
painted white, in which simplicity was the principal 
characteristic, the members were finally in 1853 in pos- 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



session of one of the finest buildings in the South. 
This is a fair illustration of the evolution of their life 
and influence in South Carolina. Like a majestic tree 
the life of these people developed from a tiny seed 
until its shade and fruit were famous in the common- 
wealth. 

What has been the influence of these Puritans in the 
life of South Carolina? Puritanism has possessed the 
same temper and spirit that it has elsewhere. It has 
been the steadying progressive influence, championing 
causes with a tenacity that refused consideration to any- 
thing but willing obedience; it has grasped with clear- 
ness the idea of liberty, and inspired its children with 
the highest ambitions of reform; it has emphasized 
education and Christianity as fundamental in life, and 
devotion to them has always been its characteristic. 
There may have been mistakes and intolerance, but the 
moral grandeur of the spirit can never be questioned. 

South Carolina had the Church of England as its 
state church from 1706. Although Dissenters were in 
the majority, establishment was made possible by fraud. 
Other ecclesiastical organizations were permitted, but 
only on condition that they supported themselves. Sup- 
port of the dissenting church to which one might be- 
long did not absolve him from support of the Estab- 
lished Church. Through the influence of the Puritans 
and other Dissenters, the pastor of the Puritan church 
was elected a member of the common house of the As- 
sembly. The Rev. William Tennett was a man of 
learning, eloquence and piety, who had been called to 
South Carolina after a pastorate in Connecticut. When 



[68] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

the American Revolution began, it so thoroughly ab- 
sorbed his capacities as to give a new direction to his 
pursuits, as he comprehended speedily the important 
changes that the Revolution would produce, and en- 
gaged in the support of it with all his energies. His 
ardent zeal and distinguished talents made him so popu- 
lar as a leader that he was first elected a member of 
the Provincial Congress and afterwards of the common 
house of the Assembly. Such was the urgency of public 
affairs that frequently a meeting was held on Sunday 
for the despatch of business. In the different hours of 
the same day, Mr. Tennett could be heard both in his 
church and the state house, addressing different audi- 
ences with equal earnestness on their spiritual and tem- 
poral interests. He considered the success of the Rev- 
olution as intimately connected with the religion, liberty 
and happiness of his country. He wrote anonymously 
for newspapers, rousing the people to a proper sense 
of their political interests while their liberties were en- 
dangered. One of his public addresses on the justice 
and policy of putting all religious denominations on an 
equal footing can be found in the library of the Charles- 
ton Historical Society. Strongly impressed with the 
idea that all men had a right to free and equal religious 
liberty, he could not consent to receive toleration as a 
legal boon from those whose natural rights were not 
superior to his. One or two sentences reveal his pow- 
erful and persuasive eloquence. "Yield to the mighty 
current of American freedom and glory," he said, "and 
let our state be inferior to none on this wide continent 
in the liberality of its laws and the happiness of its 
_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



people. Men of true sentiment will scorn political 
where they cannot enjoy religious liberty." The tri- 
umph came, and in the year 1777 equal religious rights 
were granted the Dissenters of the colony. Disestab- 
lishment never took place in South Carolina. All 
churches accepting a certain creed were made state 
churches, but without taxation for their support. The 
following is the creed to which the church must sub- 
scribe, and it still remains the creed of the Independent 
Congregational Church of Charleston, S. C. : — 

1. There is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards 
and punishments. 

2. That God is to be publicly worshiped. 

3. That the Christian religion is the true religion. 

4. That the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments are divinely inspired and are the rule of faith and 
practice. 

5. That it is lawful, and the duty of every man, being 
thereunto lawfully called, to bear witness unto the truth. 

Another story, in which these Puritans figure con- 
spicuously, relates to the ancestry of the mother of 
President Roosevelt. In the year 1699, a company of 
Englishmen attempted a settlement on the Isthmus of 
Darien. The settlement proved a failure, and at the 
end of a year the colonists set sail, intending to return 
home. While passing the Carolina coast the ship 
stopped at Charleston for supplies. The church of the 
Puritans was in need of a pastor, as John Cotton had 
just resigned, and hearing that there was a Scotch 
minister aboard this ship, they sent a committee inviting 
him to spend the Sabbath in the town. The invitation 
was accepted. On Sabbath afternoon a hurricane oc- 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

curred, the ship went down in Charleston harbor 
and all on board were lost. The minister was then 
invited to become the pastor of the church, and re- 
mained in its service from 1700 to 1704. One of his 
daughters married a young Dissenter of the colony by 
the name of Bulloch, and they moved over into Georgia. 
This was the beginning of the family of the mother 
of Theodore Roosevelt in the United States. A county 
in Georgia was afterward named after this family, and 
Bulloch's Creek and Bulloch's Church were familiar 
names to the people of South Carolina. Over Bulloch's 
Church, in the first half of the nineteenth century, there 
presided a preacher who was the leader of an anti- 
slavery movement, the influence of which was felt in 
South Carolina, North Carolina, and in other localities 
in the South. One historian, speaking of the Rev. 
Archibald Stobo, says: — "He possessed talents which 
made him conspicuous and respected. To his treasure 
of knowledge and excellent capacity for instruction he 
added uncommon activity and diligence in the discharge 
of the various duties of his sacred function." 

In this same line there is another president, quite as 
forceful, and relatively as influential, as the one who 
now occupies the executive chair of the nation. The 
visitor at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah 
will be attracted by a large painting adorning one of its 
walls. It is the picture of Archibald Bulloch, the first 
president of the state. He was born in 1730, in 
Charleston, S. C, studied law, and after admission to 
the bar settled in Georgia. In the year 1772 he was 
made speaker of the House of Commons, and in 1775 
_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



was elected a delegate to the Provincial Congress, and 
from there was sent as a delegate to the Continental 
Congress at Philadelphia. Official duties calling him 
back to Georgia, he was thus prevented from signing 
the Declaration of Independence. He was the first per- 
son in Georgia to receive a copy of that document, 
which he read publicly in Savannah. He was chosen 
the first republican president of the state, May ist, 1776, 
and held this office until his death, February 5th, 1777. 

In private life he was exemplary; in public life he 
was patriotic and fervent. As you study the portrait 
of this colonial patriot, who led his colony through the 
times which tried men's souls, and who stands pre- 
eminent as a political figure in the colonial days of 
Georgia, you instinctively feel that the present and 
varying fortunes of our country are safe in the hands 
of one who now manifests similar traits of character. 

The name of Rev. John Newton may be found as 
the author of many of the hymns we sing in our 
churches. At one time he was a slave-trader plying a 
ship between the coasts of Liberia and South Carolina. 
Having a cargo of slaves in Charleston for sale, he in- 
cidentally visited the "Old Circular Church" to hear 
the Puritan minister. The sermon seemed to appeal to 
him, and he began to pray, for his life had been reckless 
and sinful. In a letter written in 1763, fifteen years 
after the incident, he used this language : "Almost every 
day (referring to the time and incident) when business 
would permit I used to retire into the woods and field, 
and I trust I began to taste the sweets of communion." 
Those who are familiar with his life-story know that 



72] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

these prayers offered in the woods of South Carolina 
were the means of saving him to a ministry of the 
gospel in London, and also made him one of the well- 
known hymn-writers of his country. 

One of the pastors of these people was the Rev. Wil- 
liam Hutson, who died in the year 1761. He had come 
over from England with George Whitefield in 1740, 
officiating at the Orphans' House in Georgia, then in 
the Dissenting church at Stony Creek, Prince William's 
Parish, S. C. In 1757 he was called to Charleston. He 
was a Puritan of the Puritans; as a preacher he was 
eloquent; as a Christian he was catholic and exemplary. 
One of his daughters was married to the unfortunate 
Col. Isaac Hayne. "On the fourth day of July, 1814, 
fifty-three years after the death of Mr. Hutson, and 
only a few yards from where he statedly preached, his 
great-grandson, Robert Y. Hayne, inheriting the genius 
and eloquence of his venerable ancestor, delivered an 
oration on the anniversary of the Independence of the 
United States, which for correct patriotic sentiment, 
for thoughts that breathe and words that burn, and for 
forcible elocution, has seldom been equalled and rarely 
if ever surpassed by anything on the same occasion." 
So wrote a contemporaneous historian, and yet most 
people have called Robert Y. Hayne a Cavalier. This 
was the Hayne who debated with Webster in the United 
States Senate, representing the later eloquence of 
Southern Puritanism, as Webster represented it from 
New England. He was the incarnation of the ideals 
of South Carolina. Born November loth, 1791, he 
studied law with Langdon Cleves, and was admitted to 

[tT] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



the bar in 1812. After serving in the war for a short 
time he was elected a member of the State Legisla- 
ture, where he distinguished himself for eloquence and 
patriotic fervor. He was chosen speaker of the House, 
and later became attorney-general. In 1832 he was 
elected to the United States Senate, where he displayed 
great abilities. He was an opponent of a protective 
tariff system, and many of his ablest speeches deal with 
this issue. In 1830 occurred the famous debate between 
Hayne and Webster, in the course of which he argued 
the constitutional right of secession. Two years later 
he was chairman of a committee in his home state 
which reported the celebrated ordinance of nullification. 
He was then chosen governor. When Andrew Jackson 
denounced the nullification acts, Hayne replied defiantly, 
and made preparation for resistance. At this juncture 
Henry Clay came forward with a compromise measure 
which averted the danger, and the next South Caro- 
lina convention repealed the ordinances of nullification. 
Hayne was then made mayor of Charleston, and after 
his term of office retired from politics, and became 
president of a railroad system. He died in 1839. Haw- 
thorne describes him as "an able, versatile and charm- 
ing man, eloquent, winning, and graceful, harmonious, 
nimble in the dance, entertaining at the table, and per- 
suasive and impressive in the Senate. Hayne was the 
most refined type of the Southern gentleman and man 
of honor." It is not to be supposed that the man of 
the South with Puritan blood in his veins should be 
different from the generally accepted standards of his 
section. In fact, the characteristics so often ascribed 



[74] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

to the Cavalier are just what you find among the Puri- 
tans and their descendants. 

If you should ask those in position to know who was 
the greatest preacher produced by the South, the an- 
swer would be Dr. B. M. Palmer of New Orleans. For 
half a century he was, beyond a question, one of the 
most commanding personalities of the section. What 
Henry Ward Beecher was to the North, that Benjamin 
M. Palmer was to the South. I think his influence, if 
anything, was wider, for although Beecher was re- 
garded as the greatest preacher in the North, yet he did 
not touch the life of his section as vitally nor mold its 
politics on the principles of religion as did Dr. Palmer. 
Beecher was a preacher of power, a prophet incar- 
nating the ideals of progress and human liberty, and 
in that he was preeminent. Dr. Palmer was a solid 
rock of conservatism, and stood out as the Gibraltar of 
the institutions of his people. They believed him, and 
trusted him, because they regarded him as the mouth- 
piece of eternal verities. Dr. Palmer's influence in the 
early days of the Confederacy was as wide as the sec- 
tion. He and Beecher had been educated together at 
Amherst, but they were far apart in life and ideals. 
Dr. Palmer was a rebel to the end. His majestic char- 
acter knew no defeat. His spirit was Puritan through 
and through. The mighty eloquence of the man, his 
rugged character, his vision of the Almighty, his un- 
yielding faith in the verities of the Scripture, his in- 
tense devotion and irreproachable personality — all 
combined to make him one of the greatest preachers of 
the last century. He was beyond doubt a typical repre- 

TtsI 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



sentative of the later eloquence of Southern Puritanism. 
He was born in Charleston, S. C, and reared in the 
old Puritan Church, where one of his ancestors had a 
long and honored pastorate and another was a clerk of 
the congregation for thirty-nine years. 

We have sometimes thought that the war between 
the States represented the Puritan on the one hand and 
the Cavalier on the other. But the deeper and more 
significant fact is that this war represented in a large 
measure the opposing convictions of Puritanism. 

One of the prominent and influential families among 
these people was that of Landgrave Thomas Smith. 
He had been governor of the Province in 1693, and the 
official document from George II of England is in pos- 
session of one of the descendants who now lives in 
Charleston. It is claimed that he introduced rice cul- 
ture into the United States after experiments in his 
garden. One of his grandsons, born in Charleston in 
1704, was the first native to obtain a degree from col- 
lege. This young man after his graduation from col- 
lege ministered to a congregation for a short time in 
the Bermudas, from whence he was called to his native 
state. He became the pastor of the Puritan congrega- 
tion, remaining as such for twenty years. When Rev. 
George Whitefield came to Charleston and was for- 
bidden to preach in the Episcopal churches, Mr. Smith 
opened his church and championed his cause in a ser- 
mon from the words of Elihu, "I said, Hearken to 
me; I also will show mine opinion." 

These people were interested in education. They 
helped to found, and for many years to support, a theo- 



[76] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

logical seminary, besides making contributions to 
Princeton, Yale and Andover. They organized the 
Charleston Bible Society, which is six years older than 
the American Bible Society, and but six years younger 
than the British and Foreign Bible Society. They or- 
ganized the Charleston Port Society, which has done 
mission work for more than a century among the sea- 
men of the world. They also started the Sunday-school 
movement in South Carolina. 

The contributions to the Revolution can scarcely be 
estimated. And their descendants were no less patriotic 
when, in i860, South Carolina called for their services. 
At the beginning of the war between the States they 
had about six hundred white people and over three 
hundred colored communicants. At the close of the 
war only about two hundred of the white communi- 
cants could be found, and only about one hundred of 
the colored people returned. Their famous Circular 
Church, built in 1804, repaired and redecorated in 1853, 
was burned to the ground in 1861, when a fire swept 
through that portion of the city carrying devastation in 
its path. But the Meeting Street site, with its more 
modern and circular church, is still there, and the vis- 
itor in historic Charleston can well visit this shrine, 
which meant so much to the early life and struggles 
of that colony. 

In North Carolina 

It is not claimed that English Puritans were found 
in large numbers in North Carolina; although it may 
be said that the life and civilization of the colony were 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



molded by the Scotch-Irish, who possessed the Puri- 
tan temper and spirit, yet there were English Puritans. 
Wheeler says that in 1702 the following classes were 
found, "Quakers, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Inde- 
pendents." This was before those larger migrations 
had entered the colony. Most historians in giving the 
story of North Carolina begin with the settlement of 
old Captain Sayle, who was a Puritan. But this settle- 
ment properly belongs to South Carolina, for it was 
located near the present site of Charleston. It is not 
quite accurate to include the beginnings of South Caro- 
lina in the history of the ''Old North State." 

Foote in his history of North Carolina says, "When 
the Puritans were driven from Virginia some eminently 
pious people settled along the seaboard, safe from for- 
eign invasion and free from the domestic oppression of 
intolerant laws and bigoted magistrates. Next to these 
were the emigrants from the West Indies and from 
England, who preferred the advantages offered by this 
uninhabited country to those of a more populous state." 
Governor Berkeley, in his correspondence with Charles 
II, expressly says that the hated sect in power in Eng- 
land had been driven from Virginia, and some had 
taken refuge in North Carolina, while the larger part 
had removed within the bounds of Maryland. It is not 
unreasonable to suppose also that Captain Sayle, the 
Puritan of the sea, had brought some Puritans from 
the West Indies to North Carolina, and even to the 
other colonies, as he was in constant communication 
with them. When Governor Berkeley was persecuting 
the Puritans in Virginia, Captain Sayle tried to per- 



[78] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

suade them to go to the West Indies. In the old rec- 
ords, also, we find that the pastors of the Puritan 
communities in this section were frequently called from 
some of the Southern islands, where some of them had 
been engaged in missionary work. There were many 
English Puritans and Scotch Covenanters in those 
islands. In the Ozarks I met an interesting old lady. 
When asked about her ancestry, she said that they had 
originally moved there from North Carolina, and that 
her family had all been Puritans. She remembered 
hearing her grandfather tell how his father had to hide 
his Bible in the times of Charles II and how their Puri- 
tan minister was not allowed to conduct services — the 
persecutions finally leading them to come to America. 

The English Puritan in North Carolina, probably be- 
cause of the fewness of the numbers, did not make a 
strong impression upon the colony. He readily assimi- 
lated with the Scotch Covenanter, and was soon lost 
in that mighty stream which has made North Carolina 
rich in great deeds and heroic achievements. These 
two influences are almost inseparable in considering our 
Southern life. In the old "Circular Church," Charles- 
ton, S. C, the Scotch joined with the Puritans, retain- 
ing that relationship until 1731, when they withdrew 
to organize another independent church. There are 
many Scotch names among the Puritans of Midway, 
Ga., and in the old Presbyterian church at Williams- 
burg, S. C, you find names that had been at Midway. 
Puritanism in the South is inseparably connected with 
Presbyterianism, although some few churches retained 
their independent polity. 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



It is to be remembered, also, that there were even 
closer bonds of union. When James I began peopling 
Ulster County, Ireland, he selected men not only from 
Scotland but also from the north of England. While 
the predominant sentiment in Ulster was for the Cov- 
enant yet there was a strong Puritan and independent 
feeling. These two so nearly agreed that Archbishop 
Usher felt that it would be unwise to disturb them. 
Many meeting-houses existed among them and the two 
peoples lived and worshiped together. This Puritan 
sentiment was largely augmented when, in after years, 
the remnants of Cromwell's army settled there. When 
the Restoration came they were driven from Ireland 
with the Scotch, and all sought refuge in America. 
Whether this influence came to North Carolina can- 
not be ascertained exactly, and yet the story of the 
old woman in the Ozark hills would indicate that it 
did. 

Fiske calls the Scotch-Irish the Puritans of the South. 
They were Calvinists in theology and republican in 
politics, differing in no essentials from the English 
Puritans. So complete was the union of sympathy be- 
tween them, that long before they actually left Ulster, 
they entered into correspondence with the Puritans in 
New England, looking toward settling among them. 
The Puritans of New England readily assented to this 
and a ship laden with them left the Port of Ulster 
bound for a home in the New World. A storm occur- 
ring the ship lost its course and after a number of weeks, 
nearing shipwreck, reentered the port of Ulster. This 
ended their attempt to come to New England. 



[80] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

Their difficulties with England increased. In 1698, 
upon the demand of English manufacturers, their 
woolen industry was practically destroyed. At this 
time, however, twenty thousand of them left for Amer- 
ica. In 1704 a test act was passed which made it im- 
possible for them to hold office above that of petty 
constable; they were forbidden to teach school; mar- 
riages performed by their ministers were not valid; 
their dead were not to be buried in ancestral grave- 
yards. This produced an exodus which continued until 
1782. In the year 1719, enough ships could not be se- 
cured to carry these people to America. Added to their 
other difficulties, was the attempt to increase the rent 
on their lands. When they had taken the lands of 
IHster and Leinster, a valuation was placed on them 
and rents determined by that valuation. They had 
redeemed waste lands, and had added improvements by 
their thrift and industry, and claimed that these be- 
longed to them and not to the lands, and that addi- 
tional rent should not be paid for that which they 
had made themselves. Their protests were in vain. 
Rents were increased over all the counties, and within 
two years after this thirty thousand more had left for 
America. 

They were not poor peasants, but were sturdy and 
inflexible yeomanry, the majority of them educated, or 
at least possessed with the rudiments of an education. 
In Ireland they had kept up a close connection with the 
Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, while some of 
the leading ministers of Scotland were found among 
them — men who were eminent in piety and learning. 

[sT] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



Their equals in industry and education were found only 
among the higher classes of the colonists. 

Some of them remained in the North in Massachusetts 
and New York. Bunker Hill is probably a corruption 
of Brunker's Hill, outside of Belfast. General Henry 
Knox, the Massachusetts member of Washington's cab- 
inet, belonged to them. Alexander Hamilton, Matthew 
Thornton, Major-General John Sullivan, and Horace 
Greeley, were some of their descendants. In the South 
they were equally conspicuous. 

The chief door through which they entered America 
was Philadelphia, whence they were encouraged to go 
West as a protection against the Indians. Pushing into 
western Pennsylvania near the mountains, and then 
south across Maryland, on above the tide-water districts 
of Virginia, on to North Carolina, and then across into 
Kentucky and Tennessee, these brave spirits moved. 
Some entered the Southern ports, and pushed into up- 
per South Carolina, and then into Georgia and Tennes- 
see. By the time of the Revolution there were probably 
fifty thousand of them in the Southern colonies. These 
were the people who settled North Carolina. 

The ode to Columbus is not inappropriate with refer- 
ence to this Southern movement. They were only on 
the sea of difficulty, but they possessed the brave 
spirit: — 

Behind him lay the gray Azores, 

Behind the gates of Hercules, 
Before him not the ghost of shores, 

Before him only shoreless seas. 
The good mate said. Now must we pray. 

For lo, the very stars are gone ; 



[82] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 



Speak, brave admiral, speak and say. 
He said, "Sail on, and on, and on." 

They sailed, and sailed, as winds might blow, 

Until at last the blanched mate said. 
Why, not even God would know 

Should I and all my men fall dead ; 
These very winds forget their ways, 

For God from these dread seas is gone. 
Speak, brave admiral, speak and say. 

He said, "Sail on, and on, and on." 

They sailed and sailed ; then spoke the mate, 

This mad sea shows its teeth to-night, 
It curls its lip, it lies in wait 

With lifted teeth as if to bite. 
Speak, brave admiral, speak but one good word, 

What shall we do when hope is gone? 
The words leaped as a leaping sword, 

"Sail on, and on, and on." 

Tho' pale and worn, he kept his deck. 

And peered through darkness — ah, that night. 

Of all dark nights! 

And then a speck, a light ; it grew 

A star-lit flag unfurled ! 
He gained a world. 

He gave that world its greatest lesson, 
On and on ! 

That was the spirit of the men and women who came 
to North Carolina. That has been the spirit of the 
Puritan in every age. 

One historian in speaking of them says : "They were 
of the stern school of Calvin and Knox, so much de- 
rided for their puritanical tenets. They were more dis- 
tinguished for simplicity and integrity, religious educa- 
tion and their uniform attendance on the exercises and 
ordinances of religion, than for graceful and courteous 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



manners which lend a charm to the intercourse of a 
more aristocratic society." And these are the charac- 
teristics distinguishable in their descendants. They 
have indelibly stamped the impress of their genius upon 
the Presbyterian churches of the South. 

There was another element in North Carolina. Dur- 
ing the reign of George II of England, when Charles 
Edward the Stuart was trying to regain the throne for 
his family, many of the Scotch Highlanders had fa- 
vored his cause. One of the most important of the clans 
to champion his cause was that of the McDonalds, and 
yet one historian believes that they were divided on the 
question, and felt that the attempt of the daring prince 
was in vain. When at last his forces were defeated, 
and he became a fugitive with a price set upon his 
head, the one supreme question with him and his friends 
was how an escape to the continent might be effected. 
With the greatest of difficulty he had succeeded in 
reaching the western shore, and setting sail in a small 
boat he reached a small island, South Uist, and there 
found a refuge with Laird McDonald of Clan Ronald. 
The English were on his track and soon traced him to 
the place, and three thousand English soldiers sur- 
rounded the island to capture the royal fugitive. As a 
last resort Lady McDonald suggested a plan of es- 
cape. She proposed that, arrayed in female attire, he 
should accompany one of the women as her servant 
maid. The difficulties were, who would be the woman 
to go, and how were passports to be obtained? Just at 
this time there was a beautiful young woman visiting 
there. She had just returned from Edinburgh, where 



[84] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

she had completed her education. Her stepfather at 
the time was in the island commanding a company in 
the service of King George. The young woman was 
asked whether she would be willing to expose herself 
to this danger in order to effect the escape of the 
prince. Her reply was, "Since I am to die, and can die 
but once, I am perfectly willing to put my life in jeop- 
ardy to save his Royal Highness from the danger which 
now besets him." Plans were soon perfected to which 
the prince gave his assent. The principal thing now 
was the passport. Flora McDonald secured this from 
her stepfather for herself, a companion, her serving 
maid, Betsey Burke, a stout Irish woman, and for Neill 
McDonald and three others, the latter to constitute the 
boat's crew. A company of soldiers was already there, 
and there was no time to be lost. On the afternoon 
of Saturday, June 28th, 1746, the party left Uist for 
the Isle of Skye. A storm occurred, and it was with 
the greatest difficulty that the boat was kept above the 
waves. After riding all night, in the morning they 
drew near Point Vatermish in the Isle of Skye. As 
they drew near, they saw a band of soldiers drawn up 
in line to receive the boat. This turned them back, 
while volleys were discharged at them. Not until noon 
did they reach Kilbride near the residence of Sir Alex- 
ander McDonald. The prince was then concealed in a 
cave while Flora went to the house and confided her 
story to Lady McDonald. She set out for Kingsbury, 
twelve miles distant, accompanied by her Irish maid. 
They met the people on the way from church, whose 
curiosity was aroused by the coarse, clumsy maid ac- 

[8sl 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



companying the young Miss McDonald. Reaching 
their destination at night, she accompanied him the next 
morning to Portaree, where she bade him adieu. On 
parting the prince kissed her, and said, "Gentle, faithful 
maiden, I entertain the hope that we shall yet meet in 
the palace royal." But his hope was in vain. They 
never met again. 

Miss McDonald and several others were arrested and 
taken to London and confined in the tower, charged 
with ''aiding and abetting attempts against King 
George's life." During her confinement in London 
many of the nobility became interested in this high- 
spirited Scottish maiden, who was not a partisan of the 
Pretender nor of his religious faith, and who had aided 
so romantically the escape of Charles merely on the 
ground of her adherence to royalty. Prince Frederick 
visited her in prison, and made efforts for her release 
which were finally successful. These efforts, as we 
shall see later, came very near saving to George III 
his thirteen colonies in America. After her release she 
was welcomed into royal society and showered with 
presents. She was introduced to the king, George II, 
who asked, *'How could you dare to succor the enemy 
of my crown and kingdom ?" With great simplicity she 
answered, *Tt was no more than I would have done 
for your majesty, had you been in like situation." A 
chaise and four were fitted up for her return home, 
and for her escort she chose a fellow prisoner, Malcolm 
McLeod. It is said that afterward he used to be fond 
of saying, "I went to London to be hanged, but came 
back with Flora McDonald and a chaise and four." 



186] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

After the rebellion in 1745, a number of Scotchmen 
had come to North Carolina and had settled on Cape 
Fear River. In the year 1775, just as the revolution 
was beginning, Flora McDonald and her husband 
joined their friends, and all of them became ardent 
supporters of George III. Donald McDonald had been 
made a general in the service of his majesty, George 
III, and on February ist, 1776, he issued a proclama- 
tion calling on all loyal Highlanders to rally around his 
standard at Cross Creek. When the rally occurred, 
Kingsbury McDonald, the husband of Flora McDonald, 
was there, and also his wife. Tradition says she im- 
parted her own enthusiasm to the Highlanders there 
assembled. A little later her husband was taken cap- 
tive and sent to Halifax, and after his release the two 
returned to Scotland. These Highlanders were the 
men who fought the battles of George III in North 
Carolina, while opposed to them were the Scotch-Irish 
Puritans. 

The battle of King's Mountain was probably the most 
decisive battle of the Revolution, being now regarded 
as the turning-point in that great struggle. This battle 
was fought entirely by the Puritan element on the one 
hand and on the other by the Scotch Highlanders led 
by Ferguson. Prof. Thomas Page of the University of 
Virginia says that this battle was fought entirely with- 
out the aid or presence of English troops. The winning 
of this struggle made real their Mecklenburg Declara- 
tion. 

There are three prominent characteristics of the 
Puritans in North Carolina, the first of which is their 
_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



devotion to the cause of liberty and popular govern- 
ment. Their independence of character, their deep- 
seated convictions and their calm courage when others 
stood trembling, are v^ell reflected in the famous reso- 
lutions now known as the Mecklenburg Declaration of 
Independence. On May 19th and 20th, 1775, after hav- 
ing sent regular delegates to Charlotte for the purpose 
of considering their grievances, and after mature de- 
liberation, they unanimously passed the following : — 

Resolved, ist. That whosoever directly or indirectly 
abetted or in any way, form or manner, countenanced 
the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights 
as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this coun- 
try, to America, and to the inherent and inalienable 
rights of man. 

Resolved, 2d. That we citizens of Mecklenburg 
County do hereby dissolve the political bonds which 
have connected us with the mother country, and hereby 
absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British 
crown, and abjure all political connection, contract or 
association with that nation, who have wantonly tram- 
pled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed 
the blood of American patriots at Lexington. 

Resolved, 3d. That we do hereby declare ourselves 
a free and independent people ; are, and of rights ought 
to be, a sovereign and self-governing association, under 
the control of no power other than that of our God, 
and the General Government of Congress ; to the main- 
tenance of which independence we solemnly pledge to 
each other our mutual cooperation, our lives, our for- 
tunes, and our most sacred honor. 



[88] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

Resolved, 4th. That as we acknowledge the exist- 
ence and control of no law, nor legal office, civil or 
military, within this county; we do hereby ordain and 
adopt as a rule of life, all, each and every of our former 
laws, wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Britain 
never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, 
immunities or authority therein. 

Resolved, 5th. That it is further decreed, that all, 
each and every military officer in this county is hereby 
retained in his former command and authority, he act- 
ing conformably to these regulations. And that every 
member present of this delegation shall henceforth be a 
civil officer, viz., a Justice of the Peace, in the charac- 
ter of a Committeeman, to issue process, hear and deter- 
mine all matters of controversy, according to said 
adopted laws; and to preserve peace, union and har- 
mony in said county; and to use every exertion to 
spread the love of country and fire of freedom through- 
out America, until a general organized government be 
established in this province. 

These were adopted by a unanimous vote of the dele- 
gates, and approved by the people assembled. Other 
meetings of the Convention were held from time to 
time, but on May 30th, 1775, the following resolutions 
were issued : — 

''Whereas, by an address presented to His Majesty by 
both houses of Parliament, in February last, the Ameri- 
can Colonies are declared to be in a state of actual 
rebellion, we conceive that all laws and commissions 
confirmed by or derived from the authority of the King 
or Parliament are annulled and vacated, and the former 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



civil constitution of these Colonies for the present 
wholly suspended. To provide, in some degree, for the 
exigencies of this country in the present alarming 
period, w^e deem it necessary and proper to pass the 
following resolves, viz: — 

"ist. That all commissions, civil and military, here- 
tofore granted by the crown, to be exercised in these 
colonies, are null and void and the constitution of each 
particular colony wholly suspended. 

"2d. That the Provincial Congress of each province, 
under the direction of the Great Continental Congress, 
is invested with all legislative and executive powers, 
within their respective provinces, and that no legisla- 
tive power does or can exist at this time in any of 
these Colonies. 

"3d. As all former laws are now suspended in this 
province, and the Congress have not provided others, 
we judge it necessary for the better preservation of 
good order to form certain rules and regulations for 
the internal government of this county, until laws 
shall be provided for us by the Congress. 

"4th. That the inhabitants of this county do meet 
on a certain day appointed by this committee, and, 
having formed themselves into nine companies, viz., 
eight in the county and one in the town of Charlotte, 
do choose a Colonel and other military officers who 
shall hold and exercise their several powers by virtue 
of this choice, and independent of the crown of Great 
Britain and the former constitution of this province." 

(Then follow eleven articles for preservation of 



[90] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

peace and the choice of officers to perform the duties 
of a regular government.) 

"5th. That whatever person shall hereafter receive 
a commission from the crown, or attempt to exercise 
any such commission heretofore received, shall be 
deemed an enemy to his country; and, upon informa- 
tion to the captain of the company in which he resides, 
the company shall cause him to be apprehended, and 
upon proof of the fact committed to safe custody till the 
next sitting of the committee, who shall deal with him 
as prudence may direct." 

Subsequent history shows that these people were 
fearless in the execution of the resolutions made for 
their government and welfare. Governor Tryon knew 
the stuff they were made of, although failing to appre- 
hend their character or motive, and now Governor 
Martin was put to the test. After the publication of 
their resolutions in the Cape Fear Mercury, thus reach- 
ing the Governor, he in his proclamation to the Pro- 
vincial Congress said: "And whereas, I have seen a 
most infamous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, 
importing to be Resolves of a set of people styling 
themselves a Committee of the County of Mecklenburg, 
most traitorously declaring the entire dissolution of 
the laws, government and constitution of the country 
and setting up a system of rule and regulation repug- 
nant to the laws, and subversive of his Majesty's gov- 
ernment," etc. 

But it took more than proclamations or threats to 
overcome these people. They had deliberately set their 
faces toward the rising sun and were ready to meet 

~] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH'^ 



the difficulties in the spirit of self-sacrifice, believing 
that they were following the voice of duty. Is it any 
wonder that the principles of political liberty are dear 
to every North Carolinian heart? What makes a state 
but men, high-minded and true, who refuse to bow at 
tyrants' will? Such were the men of Mecklenburg. 
This priceless heritage has been the inspiration of all 
her sons in the upward struggle for self-mastery and 
self-government. 

The second characteristic of these people was their 
interest in education. It was as characteristic of them 
as of the English Puritan. Campbell says: "Not only 
did they give life and character to Princeton College, 
and founded the institution now known as Washington 
and Lee in Virginia, but they gave free schools to 
New Jersey and Kentucky, and for nearly a century 
before the Revolution they conducted most of the 
classical schools south of the Province of New York. 
It was in these schools that the fathers of the Revo- 
lution in the South, almost without exception, received 
their education." In North Carolina they recognized 
the necessity for education. The number of institu- 
tions founded, and their wide influence, reveal their 
spirit and purpose in this regard. Almost invariably as 
soon as a neighborhood was settled there was a school 
located. Wherever their influence was felt it was al- 
ways in favor of education. Common schools, acad- 
emies, and colleges were common among them. The 
New England Puritans did not show greater zeal or 
more sacrifice than did they in keeping ablaze the torch 
of education. Davidson College and the University of 



[92 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

North Carolina are the important survivors of their 
struggles. Into the life of these institutions the peo- 
ple have put things of more value than money, and 
that is the influence of men who have shaped and 
shared the destinies of the commonwealth. 

The third characteristic of these people in North 
Carolina has been their religious zeal and faith. They 
have been called the students of the stern school of 
Calvinism and such they were. In these days of a 
peripatetic theology it seems sometimes as though some 
thought that it was a mark of scholarship to criticize 
the tenets of Calvinism. Some of our religious liberals 
are fond of contrasting the five points of Calvin- 
ism with their five points of Christianity. These 
people would never have subdued the forests and 
turned them into fertile fields, nor attempted to cross 
the ocean for conscience' sake, and finally pledge their 
lives and honor upon the altar of liberty, if it had 
not been for a mighty faith in God. Calvinism gave 
them a mighty heroism and faith, and the spiritual 
grandeur of it has never been surpassed. When I was 
a student in the theological seminary, my professor of 
systematic theology used to tell us that the truthfulness 
of any doctrine could be determined by the effect which 
it would have upon human life and character. How 
would some of our modern theology bear such a test? 
If it is true, as all economists assert, that the two great- 
est forces in the life of man are the economic and 
the religious, then, in the light of what I have said, 
we can see the effects of their religious faith in their 
achievements. Of the members producing the Meck- 

[93I 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



lenburg Declaration one was a minister and nine were 
elders in the church, and every member was in some way 
connected with the churches of the county. A South- 
ern historian says: " In tracing their history the true 
and legitimate workings of religious principles are as 
happily displayed as in the annals of any state or sec- 
tion in the United States. ... It cannot well be other- 
wise, for the principles, the creed of Puritanism, under 
whose influence human society has so happily been de- 
veloped in the New England States, are the principles of 
Presbytery, the principles of civil and religious liberty, 
that struck deep in the soil of Carolina, and sent out 
their vigorous shoots in the great valley of the Missis- 
sippi." Not only in the state and in education has their 
religious faith found expression, but they have had a 
conspicuous part in those wider philanthropies affecting 
all mankind. Their missionary outlook and zeal have 
led them to take no small part in carrying the gospel 
of Christ into all the world. 

But the most important phase of their religious faith 
is seen in the life of the people. I do not mean to say 
that there are no individual and social sins among these 
people, but it is true, I believe, that they have more 
nearly realized their faith in the social and individual 
life than almost any other section of the country. 
Reverence for the Sabbath, respect for the church and 
ministry, intense devotion to the sacred, steadiness of 
religious doctrine, and love for the ordinances of re- 
ligion, are among the characteristics of their descend- 
ants, proving that the lessons of the fathers were 
learned well by the children. 



[94] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 



In Georgia 

It is no exaggeration to say that the Liberty County 
settlement of Georgia has been the most important of 
any of the five colonies in its contribution to the co- 
lonial life and welfare of that commonwealth. Only 
those who are familiar with the genius and original 
impulses of Puritanism can account for its most won- 
derful existence. In the year 1630 a company of Puri- 
tans set sail from England for Massachusetts. They 
named their settlement Dorchester, after their home in 
England. Although some of them were probably from 
other countries, yet all had emigrated under the influ- 
ence of Rev. John White of Dorchester. In the last 
years of the seventeenth century, eight families from 
this Massachusetts colony, in company with Rev. 
Joseph Lord, their minister, left for South Carolina. 
After a stormy voyage of fifteen days they landed at 
Charleston. Pushing up the Ashley River, seventeen 
miles, a few days later they effected a settlement, nam- 
ing it Dorchester after the Massachusetts home, as 
that home had been named after the home in England. 
The colony was prosperous. They were pioneers with 
the missionary spirit and nothing daunted them. Here 
they developed large plantations which became the 
leading factors industrially in the colony. Their church 
was of the same character and spirit as the church in 
New England. Dorchester colony and church in South 
Carolina were important until the war between the 
states. 

Fifty-seven years after the settlement here, the larger 



[95] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



part of the colony moved into St. John's Parish, 
Georgia, where large amounts of land had been ob- 
tained on reasonable terms. 

There were five colonies in Georgia. There were 
Englishmen and refugees of different nations — Salz- 
burgers, Scotchmen and these Puritans. The settle- 
ment of Georgia was handicapped by the fact that slav- 
ery was not allowed. Not until this restriction was re- 
moved was the industrial development marked. 

This Puritan colony coming from South Carolina 
with its slaves not only desired land for large planta- 
tions, but they perpetuated the New England custom 
of laying oJff a town adjacent. 

On the 4th of October, 1757, George II conveyed to 
Mark Carr, his heirs and assigns forever, and ''com- 
mon socage," "all that tract of land, containing five 
hundred acres, situate and being in the District of 
Midway, in the Province of Georgia, bounded on the 
East by Midway River, on the west by Thomas Carr, 
on the south by vacant land, and on all sides by the 
marshes of said river." On the 20th of June, 1758, 
Mark Carr conveyed three hundred acres of this tract 
to James Maxwell, Kennith Baillie, John Elliott, Grey 
Elliott, John Stevens of Midway, Esquires, in trust that 
the same should be laid out as a town by the name of 
Sunbury. One hundred acres were to be dedicated as 
a common for the future use of the inhabitants. The 
rest of the tract was to be divided into lots and sold 
by said trustees, the proceeds to go to Mark Carr. 

The name of this village was to be Sunbury. Some 
have thought that it was named thus because of its 



[96] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

exposure to the sun, while others have thought that 
it was named after a quiet village in Middlesex County 
on the Thames in England. The latter explanation 
is probably the true one. Family tradition had probably 
kept alive as a precious memory some incident or scene 
of this quiet Middlesex village in the motherland from 
which they were now forever severed. 

The name Midway is thought by some to have been 
derived from the location of the district allotted to 
them, which was midway between the Savannah and 
Altamaha rivers — the one constituting the northern 
and the other the southern boundary. Others have 
thought that the true name was Medway, which was 
the name of an English stream and which they gave 
to the river within their domains and afterward applied 
to the district. 

The location of their village could not have been 
better, while the plantation district could scarcely have 
been worse. Some one in writing of the village gives 
this charming impression of it: "The region is semi- 
tropical — magnificent live oaks in full grown stature 
and solemn mien crown the high ground even to the 
very verge where the tide kisses the shore. Cedars 
festooned with vines overhang the waters. The mag- 
nolia grandiflora, queen of the forest, excites on every 
hand the admiration of the early visitor. The sweet- 
scented myrtle, the tall pine, the odoriferous bay and 
other indigenous trees lend their charms to a spot 
whose primal beauty has encountered no change at the 
hand of man. The woods are resonant with the songs 
of birds, whose bright plumage vies with the coloring 

[97] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



of the native flowers, which gladden the eye and give 
gentle odors to the ambient air. Fishes abound in the 
waters and game on the land. Cool sea breezes temper 
the heat of summer, and the rigor of cold is unknown 
in the depth of winter. It is a gentle, attractive place 
— this bold bluff as it comes from the hand of nature. 
Some such scene was in the mind of the poet when he 
wrote — 

" 'Heaven sure has kept this spot of earth uncurst 
To show how all things were created first.' " 

This picture is in striking contrast to the plantation 
districts. When it is remembered that one of the rea- 
sons assigned for leaving South Carolina was the 
unhealthfulness and malarial conditions produced by 
the river swamps, and then consider that these same 
conditions prevailed in the Midway district, one won- 
ders why they accepted such a place. But it is more 
than probable that they thought that by living in Sun- 
bury much of the difficulty could be avoided, while it 
may be that this feature was entirely overlooked be- 
cause of the favorable size of the grant, which was 
about twenty-two thousand acres. In the first year of 
their settlement on the plantations there were one hun- 
dred and thirty-four deaths out of one hundred and 
ninety-five births. 

Their movement from South Carolina began in 1752 
and continued until 1771. One family was from 
Charleston, four from Pon Pon where the pastor of the 
Circular Church had founded a church near the begin- 
ning of the century, while thirty-nine families were 



[98] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

from Dorchester and Beach Hill. There were about 
three hundred and fifty white people and about fifteen 
hundred negro slaves. This removal so exhausted the 
South Carolina colony that it lost its particular identity, 
although its church continued to exist for more than a 
century afterward. 

Their method of moving is an interesting one. The 
display of the so-called "Yankee shrewdness" was es- 
pecially marked. The crop was gathered and laid by 
in South Carolina in the fall. Then the planter, taking 
some of his slaves, made the trip to Georgia — cleared 
his land there and built him a house. In the spring 
this land was ready for a crop. If more than one 
year was required, time was thus taken. There was no 
season, therefore, without a crop either in South Caro- 
lina or Georgia. 

Their first houses were built of wood, one story in 
height, with dormer windows and chimneys of clay, 
typical pioneer cabins. The slave quarters were small 
structures of the same character. The church was of 
the same simple architecture. As soon as it was found 
unhealthful, one ingenious farmer placed his small 
frame house on pillars some fifteen feet above the 
ground, beyond the rise of the malarial vapors. These 
small structures were replaced later by more comfort- 
able homes and larger and better quarters. Not many 
years had passed until this community had become a 
model industrially, educationally and religiously. 

In the first years, agriculture was of the most simple 
character, the ground being tilled with hoes, and the 
grain being flailed. There were no vehicles for a 

[99I 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



number of years, and all journeys were on horseback, 
so that a horse-block could be seen at every door. If 
a young man and a young lady took a ride they did it 
on horseback. After the Revolution the old-fashioned 
stickback gigs were introduced. But another half-cen- 
tury wrought tremendous changes. Rice was prepared 
for market economically; the home life had assumed 
an aristocratic character owing to the increased wealth, 
and the best methods of travel had become theirs. 

The district was filled with game, ducks and wild 
geese being abundant. The beaver and the bear were 
common, while buffalo wandered at no great distance. 
The woods were filled with squirrels, raccoons, opos- 
sums, rabbits, snipe, woodcocks, quails, wildcats, and 
hawks. In the streams were found the alligator, ter- 
rapin and snakes as well as fish. It was typical of the 
frontier, and they passed through the same experiences 
which their fathers and grandfathers had had at Dor- 
Chester in South Carolina and Massachusetts. 

The town which they had laid out in 1763 had eighty 
dwelling-houses and three stores. There were three 
squares — the King's Square, Church Square and Meet- 
ing Square. Sir James Wright in writing to Lord 
Halifax in 1763 said that it was the best settled part 
of the country for fifteen miles about. Their town be- 
came a port of entry, and the leading rice market of 
the colony, while indigo was cultivated on an island 
just below them. William Bartram, a traveler, thus 
describes the town in 1773: "After resting and a little 
recreation for a few days in Savannah and having in 
the meantime purchased a good horse and equipped 



[100] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

myself for a journey southward, I set off early in the 
morning for Sunbury, a seaport town beautifully sit- 
uated on the main, between Midway and Newport 
Rivers, about fifteen miles south of the great Ogeechee 
River. The town and harbor are defended from the 
fury of the seas by the north and south points of St. 
Helena and St. Catharine islands, between which is 
the bar and entrance into the sound; the harbor is 
capacious and safe and has water enough for ships of 
great burden. I arrived here in the evening in com- 
pany with a gentleman, one of the inhabitants, who po- 
litely introduced me to one of the principal families, 
where I supped and spent the evening in a circle of 
genteel and polite ladies and gentlemen." Neighbor- 
liness and hospitality were characteristic of these 
folk. 

The prominence of this colony is especially marked 
at the opening of the Revolution. The war of the 
Revolution was fought to a successful issue because of 
the Puritan influence in the colonies. When the Stu- 
arts were driving the Puritans and Covenanters to des- 
perate measures which finally culminated in the first 
revolution and exodus of thousands to America, the 
prophet of history can see in those years of strife an- 
other revolution in America at the first pretext of tyr- 
anny. In America the churches and their institutions 
of learning perpetuated the doctrines of the sovereignty 
of God and liberty, over against that of the king and 
the Church. The American Revolution was fore- 
ordained, just as was the Civil War. Economically as 
well as politically the fulness of time had come when 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



the shot was fired at Lexington which was heard 
around the world. 

The Puritans of Georgia had become strong and in- 
fluential, one-third of the entire wealth of the prov- 
ince being in their possession. Lyman Hall, a native 
of Connecticut and a leading physician in the province, 
became one of the most pronounced leaders in the early 
days of the struggle. He was the owner of a large 
rice plantation and lived in Sunbury. Through his 
influence the colony acted in advance of the province, 
and on March 21st, 1775, he was unanimously chosen 
to represent the parish in the Continental Congress. 
He traveled from Georgia to Philadelphia on horse- 
back, and on May 13th was admitted as a delegate to 
represent this particular colony. He was also desig- 
nated to carry to Massachusetts as a present one hun- 
dred and sixty barrels of rice and fifty pounds sterling. 
On July 15th, 1775, the entire province acted favorably 
in behalf of a general confederacy, naming Archibald 
Bulloch, Lyman Hall, John Houston, Noble Jones and 
Rev. Dr. Zubly as representatives. While Dr. Hall 
had been admitted to the Continental Congress, he had 
refused to participate until this general election. And 
yet the sentiment for resistance to England was not 
strong in Savannah. In fact there was a great deal of 
lukewarmness which increased as the years went by. 
The two signers of the Declaration of Independence 
from Georgia, Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett, were 
from Liberty, and it is a great question whether they 
did not have as great a struggle to overcome the luke- 
warmness of some of the colonists as to overcome the 



[102] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

British. Our American histories are sadly at error in 
representing the sentiment and conditions of the revo- 
lutionary struggle. There was a good deal of varying 
sentiment as well as real conviction for and against. 
The Tory spirit in the colonies has never been justly 
represented. Professor Dabney of the University of 
Virginia says that fully two hundred thousand Ameri- 
cans left the colonies because they wished to be loyal 
to the mother country. On the other hand, there were 
those who were fighting for the revolution in an or- 
ganized resistance, but numerically they were in the 
minority. Then there was the sentiment that always 
exists, which is all things to all men in the meanest 
and most contemptible sense. These were ready to be 
loyal to the crown or to the colonies. When we read 
the correspondence of some of the Revolutionary lead- 
ers and study the sermons of the pastors — such men 
as Tennett of South Carolina — we begin to see the 
meaning of their struggle. 

Jones says: "The parish of St. John took steps to 
persuade positive resistance to English rule and in- 
augurate steps contemplating an absolute separation 
from the mother country when the greater part of 
Georgia was not persuaded of the expediency of such 
action and was actually opposed to the proceedings of 
the Continental Congress." These Puritans were so 
annoyed by the temporizing policy of the Savannah 
Convention that on February 9th, 1775, they applied to 
the committee of Charleston, " requesting permission to 
form an alliance with them and to conduct trade and 
commerce according to the act of non-importation to 

[103] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



which they had already acceded." They urged that in- 
asmuch as they had detached themselves they ought to 
be considered "a separate body comprehended within 
the spirit and equitable meaning of the Continental 
Association." The Charleston Committee wisely de- 
clined their overture in the interest of a more com- 
plete unity in the Georgia colony. This proved to be 
a mark of statesmanship, for the whole colony, even 
reluctantly on the part of many, acted favorably, as 
we have seen, by sending representatives to the Con- 
gress. After this failure, they then prosecuted their 
claims to equality with the rest of the colonies. They 
were ready to fight for the revolution in Georgia alone. 
They passed resolutions to have no commerce with 
Savannah. Such was the temper and spirit of these 
Puritan folk, a spirit which was later recognized when 
in naming their county the state said that the only 
fitting name for it was Liberty. 

Sir James Wright located the rebellion in the prov- 
ince among them. In one of his letters referring to 
them and the Revolution he said that they were "de- 
scendants of New England people of the Puritan In- 
dependent sect, who, retaining a strong tincture of 
republican or Oliverian principles, have entered into an 
agreement amongst themselves to adopt both resolu- 
tions and associations of the Continental Congress." 
In the colony some of the principal families were: 
Weys, Bacon, Ham, Green, Dunham, More and Quar- 
terman. One English official had addressed an insolent, 
threatening letter to them which was answered charac- 
teristically. He had asked what they had to withstand 



[104] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

their king. Their answer was, "My Dear Sir : — We 
have in this colony Ham and Dunham, Bacon and 
Green, Man and Quarterman, plenty of Weys but no 
means." This picture would be considered by some 
as dishonoring to the rest of the Georgia colonists. 
McCall says, "The charge of inactivity vanishes when 
the sword and hatchet are held over the heads of the 
actors to compel them to lie still." This would indi- 
cate that other colonists were held down from express- 
ing their convictions by the sword. This may be true, 
and yet the historical fact is, that the real leadership 
of the revolution in Georgia was in St. John's parish. 
Threats of the sword did not affect the Puritans, al- 
though they were in the same position as the others, 
but they were trained in the school whose first lessons 
had been Naseby and Marston Moor. 

Some of them joined the state militia, others formed 
themselves into an infantry company and a troop of 
horse, electing John Baker as captain. An old fort 
was reconstructed on the river commanding it. The 
Continental Congress having Georgia under considera- 
tion, voted July 5th, T776, that two battalions should 
be formed and that commissions should be filled by the 
General Convention of the Province. Two forts, one 
at Save and the other at Sunbury, were to be garri- 
soned. One of the forts was probably built by the 
slaves and was named in honor of Captain Morris, a 
commander of a company of Continental Artillery for 
coast defense. This name was changed to Fort George 
after Prevost captured it. 

Colonel John Mcintosh was placed in command at 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



Sunbury with one hundred and twenty-seven men. It 
was the plan of the British to take this in the southern 
campaign of 1778, in which General Augustine Prevost 
was to operate two expeditions, one by land and the 
other by sea against Sunbury, and then with this united 
force proceed to the capture of Savannah. Mark Prev- 
ost was entrusted with the land movement. Under 
his command were one hundred British, and three 
hundred refugees and Indians led by the renegade Mc- 
Girth. After crossing the Georgia line from the south 
he began to capture and plunder, spreading devastation 
and terror about his path. He was met by John Baker 
and a small force that could offer little resistance. In 
the skirmish Baker and two of his companions were 
wounded. Other patriots assembled, but little could be 
done to stop the pillaging and forward movement of 
the hordes under the direction of Prevost. Colonel 
John White with one hundred men and two pieces of 
artillery constructed a breastwork at the Midway meet- 
ing-house, which it was thought would stop the inva- 
sion until they could get reenforcements. A messenger 
was sent to Colonel Elbert advising him of the invasion, 
and he detached Major William Baker with a party of 
mounted militia to skirmish with the enemy. Colonel 
White was also joined by General Screven and twenty 
militiamen. White then determined to abandon his 
position near the meeting-house and take another about 
one and a half miles beyond, where an ambush might 
be laid. McGirth, who knew the country fully as well, 
tried the same thing. The forces met and a fight en- 
sued. General Screven was mortally wounded. Prev- 



[106] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

ost's horse was shot from under him and for a while 
it seemed that a victory had been gained over the in- 
vaders. Major Jackson shouted victory as Prevost's 
force was retreating, but the British returned in num- 
bers and White found himself compelled to retreat. 
Bridges were destroyed and trees felled across the road, 
thus preventing a rapid advance from the enemy. By 
a very clever trick Prevost was stopped. Colonel White 
wrote a letter to himself purporting to come from 
Colonel Elbert, with the information that reenforce- 
ments were at hand. By design this letter fell into 
the hand of Prevost. He continued the invasion only 
six or seven miles beyond the meeting-house and then 
retreated, burning houses and the church and pillaging 
on the way. From a quaint old poem these lines are 
taken, descriptive of it : — 

"Where'er they march the buildings burn, 
Large stacks of rice to ashes turn, 
And me (Midway) a pile of ruin made 
Before their hellish malice staid. 

"Nor did their boundless fury spare 
The house devote to God and prayer ; 
Brick, coal and ashes shew the place 
Which once that sacred house did grace. 

"The church yard too no better sped ; 
The rabble so against the dead 
Transported were with direful fumes, 
They tore up and uncovered tombs." 

This awful desolation was never repeated until Gen- 
eral Kilpatrick in i864-'65, plundered Liberty County, 
reducing it to poverty and ashes. 

[107] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



But their trials were not ended when Prevost re- 
treated, as there was an expedition by sea to be reck- 
oned with. Colonel Fuser, the commander of this, had 
been delayed by the winds, and did not reach Sunbury 
until November, 1778. There were five hundred men 
on his vessels besides cannon and munitions of war. 
A landing was safely effected and a number of the 
vessels ready for action sailed up the Midway River to 
capture the fort. John Mcintosh was in command with 
one hundred and twenty-seven besides a few citizens 
and militia, making the total number about two hun- 
dred, or a little more than one-third of the enemy. On 
approaching the fort. Colonel Fuser wrote the follow- 
ing to Mcintosh — 

Sir : — You cannot be ignorant that four armies are in 
motion to reduce this Province. One is already under the 
guns of your fort and may be joined when I think proper 
by Colonel Prevost who is now at the Midway Meeting house. 
The resistance you can or intend to make will only bring 
destruction upon this country. On the contrary if you will 
deliver me the fort which you command, lay down your arms 
and remain neuter until the fate of America is determined, 
you shall, as well as all of the inhabitants of this parish, 
remain in peaceable possession of your property. Your an- 
swer which I expect in an hour's time will determine the 
fate of this country, whether it is to be laid in ashes or 
remain as above proposed. I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient, 

L. V. Fuser. 

Col. 6oth Reg. and Com. of his Majesty's Troops 
in Georgia on his Majesty's service. 

P. S. — Since this letter was closed some of your people 
have been firing scattering shot about the line. I am to in- 
form you that if a stop is not put to such irregular proceed- 
ings I shall burn a house for every shot fired." 



[108 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

This letter is a splendid example of stupidity. The 
braggadocio spirit exhibited is in striking contrast to 
that of Mcintosh, as seen in his answer. 

Fort Morris, November 2Sth, 1778. 

Sir : — We acknowledge we are not ignorant that your 
army is in motion to endeavor to reduce this State. We 
believe it entirely chimerical that Colonel Prevost is at the 
Meeting House ; but should it be so we are in no degree 
apprehensive of danger from a junction of his army with 
yours. We have no property, compared with the object we 
contend for, that we value a rush ; and would rather perish 
in a vigorous defense than accept your proposals. We, Sir, 
are fighting the battles of America, and therefore disdain 
to remain neutral till its fate is determined. As to sur- 
rendering the fort, receive the laconic reply : Come and take 
it. Major Lane whom I send with this letter is directed to 
satisfy you with respect to the irregular loose firing men- 
tioned on the back of your letter. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

John Mcintosh. 
Col. Continental Troops. 

When the legislature of Georgia at a later time pre- 
sented a sword to Colonel Mcintosh, there was in- 
scribed upon it the words, "Come and take it." The 
invitation was not accepted by Colonel Fuser. After 
sending some scouts to find Colonel Prevost and his 
force, and failing to discover them, he abandoned his 
part of the enterprise, and returned to St. John's River. 
Each of the British commanders blamed the other for 
failure in making the juncture and proceeding against 
Savannah. And yet the apparent success in driving 
back the invaders had cost the settlers of St. John's 

[109] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



parish dearly. Another picture of the desolation is pre- 
sented to us from the diary of Benjamin Baker: — 

"Fields once Midway's glory and her pride, 
Weeds, grass and briars now do hide, 
And worst of villains make their home 
Where flames had happened not to come. 

"Instead of preaching, prayers and praise, 
Now on the Gospel holy days, 
They race, and fight and swear and game 
Without regard to law and shame. 

"They armed, disguised with faces blacked, 
Do many villainies transact, 
The few, few honest that are here, 
Do often rob and put to fear." 

The year 1788 had indeed been a gloomy one, but 
there were darker days than these ahead of them. 
Colonel Campbell having taken the capital, was ap- 
proaching from one direction, while General Prevost 
in Florida again despatched two thousand troops bent 
on success. As Campbell approached, the only resist- 
ance was that of Major Lane with one hundred and 
twenty men. On being ordered to surrender he refused 
at first, but a little later yielded. General Moultrie 
wrote to General Pinckney that Lane deserved hang- 
ing, as he had been given orders to evacuate the fort, 
which he could not possibly hold against a force num- 
bering several thousand. The country thus passed into 
the hands of the British, who considered the revolu- 
tion crushed in Georgia ; and apparently it was. Three 
months were allowed the belligerents to return to al- 
legiance. A reward of two guineas was offered to 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

any one apprehending a citizen who still adhered to 
the rebel cause. Families were banished and other 
penalties prescribed. Yet a desultory contest was still 
waged. Outposts of the British were surprised and 
small vessels along the coast were taken. Gallant ex- 
ploits like those of Marion in South Carolina kept the 
hope of success alive. When D'Estaing appeared off 
Georgia, General Prevost concentrated all his troops in 
Savannah. 

After another defeat conditions became even more 
pitiable and intolerable. More cruelty was meted out 
to those who still resisted, their negroes were seized, 
their stock taken, their furniture, wearing apparel and 
plate jewels stolen, while their children were beaten 
and their wives banished. Captain McCall says : "The 
obscene language which were offered to tender sex 
soon rendered a residence in the country insupportable. 
Having neither funds nor means of conveyance for 
themselves and children, they were obliged to abandon 
the country under the most deplorable circumstances 
and seek a dependent residence in the adjoining states 
at the most inclement season of the year. Numbers 
whose former condition enabled them to make their 
neighboring visits in carriages, were obliged to travel 
on foot, many of them without shoes, through muddy 
roads and swamps." No Longfellow has appeared to 
make their sacrifices immortal. Waste and desolation 
were on every hand. Banishment stared the people in 
the face if there was resistance, Sunbury had been 
evacuated, so complete had been the ruin, and the 
province was so completely reduced that only five hun- 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



dred soldiers were required, and these were quartered 
in Savannah. And yet these Puritans struggled on. 
Small bands appeared here and there and, while parties 
were captured, they never surrendered nor gave up the 
contest. 

After the successes of General Greene in the Caro- 
linas, General Wayne and Colonel Jackson were de- 
spatched to capture Savannah. The British evacuated 
the city, July nth, 1783, and the war of the Revolu- 
tion was ended. In January, 1784, the Constitutional 
Convention assembled, and elected Lyman Hall gov- 
enor and George Walton chief justice. Samuel Stirk 
was made attorney-general, John Milton, secretary of 
state, John Martin, treasurer. The charge of Chief 
Justice Walton to the grand jury, made up largely of 
Liberty County men, is worthy of record as it was 
so much a part of their Puritan life and ideals. He 
said: "I congratulate you, gentlemen, on the news of 
a definitive treaty of peace by which our freedom, 
sovereignty and independence are secured. The war 
which produced it was one of necessity on our part. 
That we were enabled to prosecute it with firmness and 
perseverance to so glorious an issue should be ascribed 
to the protecting influence of the Great Disposer of 
events and be a subject of grateful praise and adora- 
tion. While the result is so honorable and advan- 
tageous to us and to posterity, it is to be lamented that 
those moral and religious duties so essential to the 
order of society and the permanent happiness of man- 
kind have been too much neglected. To recover them 
into practice, the life and conduct of every good man 



[112] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

should be a constant example. Your temples, which 
the profane instruments of a tyrant laid in ashes, should 
be built again; for nothing tends to harmonize the 
rude and unlearned organs of man more than frequent 
m.eetings in the places of holy worship. Let the monu- 
ment of your brave and virtuous soldier and citizen 
(General James Screven, killed near the church) which 
was ordered by Congress to his memory, be erected 
on the same ground, that his virtues and the cause in 
which he sacrificed his life may be seen together by 
your children and remembered through the distant ages. 
In the course of the conflict with an enemy whose con- 
duct was generally marked with cruelty, the whole 
state has suffered undoubtedly more than any of the 
Confederacy. The citizens of Liberty County, with 
others, have drunk deep in the stream of distress. Re- 
membering these things, we should not lose sight of 
the value of the prize we have obtained. And now 
that we are in full possession of our freedom, we 
should all unite in our endeavors to benefit and per- 
petuate the system that we may always be happy at 
home and forever freed from the insults of petty ty- 
rants commissioned from abroad." 

Jones in his story of the dead towns of Georgia says : 
*'0n the altars erected within Midway districts were 
the fires of resistance to the dominion of England 
earliest kindled; and Lyman Hall, of all the dwellers 
there, by his counsel, exhortations and determined 
spirit added stoutest fuel to the flames. Between the 
immigrants from Dorchester and the distressed Bos- 
tonians existed not only the ties of a common parent- 

[TIT] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



age, but also sympathies born of the same religious, 
moral, social and political education. Hence we derive 
an explanation of the reason why the Midway settle- 
ment declared so early for the Revolutionists. The 
Puritan element cherishing and proclaiming intoler- 
ance of the established church and the divine right of 
kings, impatient of restraint, accustomed to independ- 
ent thought and action, and without associations which 
encouraged tender memories of and love for the mother 
country, asserted its hatreds, its affiliations and its 
hopes with no uncertain utterance, and appears to have 
controlled the action of the entire parish." This could 
have been said with equal force relative to the struggle 
in South Carolina and North Carolina. On one occa- 
sion, before the Georgia Historical Society, the follow- 
ing language was used regarding the Midway people: 
"Alone she stood, a Pharos of Liberty in England's 
most loyal province, renouncing every fellowship that 
savored not of freedom, and refusing every luxury 
which contributed to ministerial coffers. With a halter 
around her neck and the gallows before her eyes, she 
severed herself from surrounding associations and cast 
her lot, while as yet all was gloom and darkness, with 
the fortunes of her country, to live with her rights or 
die in their defense. Proud spot of Georgia soil ! Well 
does it deserve the appellation which a grateful state 
conferred upon it, and truly may we say of its sons in 
the remembrance of their patriotic sacrifices, 'Nothing 
was wanting to their glory; they were wanting to 
ours' " ! 
This patriotism was no less ardent in the struggle 



[114] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

of the sixties. Conservative in action, and yet deter- 
mined on their rights, they gave themselves fully and 
freely in behalf of the Confederacy. Their beautififl 
plantations were reduced to ruins and the desolation 
was almost complete. But to them and their descend- 
ants nothing was so dear as principle, and they fought 
with the same intensity of conviction as did their sires 
in the Revolution. Upon the altars of their beloved 
Southland they poured the libations of an unsullied 
patriotism. 

There is meaning in the facts that they gave two 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, four gov- 
ernors to the State of Georgia, six Congressmen, two 
of whom have been United States Senators, and that 
five counties in the state are named after her illustrious 
sons, while another was named because of her devo- 
tion to liberty. The first minister extraordinary and 
plenipotentiary to the Imperial Court of China, the 
Hon. John E. Ward, was from this parish. The story 
is told that when he was to be ushered into the pres- 
ence of the emperor, he was given instructions that he 
was to bow to the floor until the emperor bade him 
rise. Mr. Ward replied that he had been taught at 
home never to bow to any one but God and women, 
and he could not change. He left the imperial city 
and did not meet the emperor. This was the will and 
spirit of the people among whom he was trained. 

Look at the Midway educational record. They were 

the first to establish a school of importance in Georgia. 

Sunbury Academy was established by an act of the 

legislature in 1788, and had for its trustees, Abiel 

_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



Holmes, father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Dun- 
woody, John Elliot, Gideon Dowse and Peter Winn. 
It became one of the leading institutions of the prov- 
ince. The Rev. Dr. William McWhir for more than 
thirty years lent the charm and influence of his pow- 
erful personality to it. He was Scotch-Irish and had 
been educated at Belfast College. He came to America 
in 1783 and was principal of an academy at Alexandria, 
Va., of which General Washington was a trustee. He 
frequently dined at Mount Vernon. On one occasion 
General Washington proceeded to say grace at dinner, 
M^hereupon Mrs. Washington remonstrated by saying 
that there was a clergyman at the table who should be 
recognized. General Washington replied, '*I desire 
clergymen as well as all others to see that I am not 
a graceless man." From this academy he was called to 
Sunbury, which he made famous during his adminis- 
tration. Out from this community have gone two uni- 
versity chancellors, six college professors, three pro- 
fessors in theological seminaries, three presidents of 
female colleges, four authors and one authoress, one 
historian, besides teachers who have been sent all 
through the South. The famous LeConte brothers 
were from this community, Joseph LeConte at his de- 
mise a few years ago being recognized as one of the 
leading geologists of the world. 

Look at their religious record. This was the foun- 
tain which sent forth sparkling streams into all the 
South and even farther, into all the world. Religion 
was real, and Christ's command to evangelize the 
world was imperative. A call to the gospel ministry 



[116] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

was the greatest of all privileges. Eighty-three men 
went out either as pastors or missionaries. Is there 
another church in the country that can equal this rec- 
ord ? There were six foreign missionaries in this list, 
the first Southern missionary to lay down his life upon 
heathen soil, the Reverend John Winn Quarterman, 
being one of these. The first bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church South, as well as the first traveling 
minister in Georgia, came from these people. There 
was a Home Mission secretary, besides ministers of 
prominence in the Presbyterian fold. It was in this 
church that the Rev. Abiel Holmes ministered before 
going to Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

It is not amiss at this point to speak of one of the 
ministers of this church, and in a slight way remember 
the fruit of his glorious ministry among these people 
and in Savannah. Next to Dr. Palmer of New Or- 
leans, Puritanism in the South produced no greater 
preacher and pastor than the Rev. Isaac Stockton 
Keith Axson, D.D. Omitting the first year of his 
ministry in Summerville, S. C, and the few years 
spent as principal of the female seminary at Greens- 
boro, Ga., his labors in the ministry were given wholly 
to the Midway church and to the Independent Presby- 
terian church of Savannah — the first pastorate lasting 
eighteen, the second, thirty-five years. Dr. Palmer said 
of him: "He belonged to that noble Puritan stock so 
often decried as fanatical, but to whose sturdy virtue 
both England and America owe much of the civil and 
political liberty which they now enjoy. His ancestors 
came at an early period to this country by the ship 
_ 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



Fortune, in 1621, being the second importation after 
the Mayflower, and settled of course in New England. 
They were all of them in their successive generations 
men of mark, receiving the highest education of their 
day, and serving in the gospel ministry with but three 
breaks in the succession to the present time. The 
Southern branch of the family was founded by his 
immediate grandfather, who migrated to South Caro- 
lina before the American Revolution, making his home 
in the city of Charleston, where he died at the advanced 
age of ninety-nine years." He was educated at 
Charleston College and the Columbia Theological Sem- 
inary. After serving the old Dorchester congregation 
in South Carolina for awhile, he was transferred to 
Midway. It had been his purpose, says Dr. Palmer, 
to give himself to missionary labor among the negroes, 
but the opportunity never came. He was called to 
the Circular Church in 1850, and again in 1851, and 
also to the Presbyterian Church at Macon, Ga. In 
1856 he was called to the Huguenot Church in Charles- 
ton, to the First Presbyterian, Montgomery, Ala., 
to the First Presbyterian, Memphis, Tenn., and to 
the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, New York. In 1857 he 
accepted the pastorate of the old Independent Church, 
Savannah — a church distinguished for its splendid 
achievements and spirit. Here as a pastor he excelled. 
Dr. Palmer speaks thus of his persuasive power as a 
preacher: "His constant hearers doubtless recall many 
of those picturesque words in which he would swoop 
down like an eagle from its eyrie, lodging the thought 
forever in the memory. Seldom as it was my privilege 



[118] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

to hear him, I can easily recite one or two of these, 
as when he said, 'The Lord will make every man stoop 
that comes into his kingdom.' Could the self-renuncia- 
tion of the sinner be as forcibly expressed by the se- 
lection of another word? Sometimes the sweetness of 
his piety would find utterance in similar quaint imagery. 
The last time the speaker ever looked upon the face 
of his brother, little more than a year since, the word 
was whispered in his ear at parting, 'When you go 
into the presence of the King, please mention my 
name.' It is no wonder that he became a master of 
style, with such a play of poetic and pious fancy throw- 
ing its halo over all that he wrote." One of his con- 
stant hearers said of him : "He made the most thorough 
analysis of the human heart, probing to its hidden 
depths, and the hearer went with bowed head from 
the house of worship feeling that it was only through 
the pitiful permission of God he was allowed to walk 
the street to his home." He preached the tenderness 
of the cross as the complement of the terror of the law. 
Dr. Palmer says: "He was preeminently a Biblical 
preacher. He did not pride himself upon the black- 
letter lore of his profession; nor did he draw deep the 
theological lines as they are formulated in a creed. 
Not that these were undervalued, but simply were left 
to others who were conspicuously summoned to the 
defence of the faith. As for himself he was simply a 
shepherd of the flock dealing with the daily trials, 
temptations and sorrows of God's people. His duty 
therefore was to lead them into the green pastures and 
by the still waters of the sacred Word. Truth was 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



viewed by him not in the abstract, but in the concrete 
— not as systematized doctrine, but as practical precept. 
He took it up not as it lay in the hard form of theo- 
logical disputation, but in the soft and mingled pro- 
portions in which the Scriptures present it. He in- 
dulged in no wire-drawn metaphysical speculations nor 
in the polemical assaults upon error. All this is need- 
ful for the more articulate statement and defence of 
the truth; but it was not that to which he felt him- 
self called. He floated upon the pages of the Bible, 
gathering up the truths as they lay before his eye on 
the surface of the sacred Book. The most grateful 
variety was thus found in his sermons, for he was 
wedded to no theories, and the Divine Revelation lay, 
like Nature herself, in all the richness and variety of 
its teachings." 

No greater preacher graced the pulpit in Georgia 
during the preceding generation. Dr. Axson's influ- 
ence and power, like that of Dr. Hoge of Richmond 
and Dr. Palmer of New Orleans, will live long after 
generations have come and gone. 

Longfellow might have written these words regard- 
ing him : — 

"His gracious presence upon earth, 

Was as fire upon a hearth, 

As pleasant songs at morning sung, 

The words that dropped from his sweet tongue 

Strengthened our hearts : or heard at night 

Made all our slumbers soft and light." 

The old Midway people were not only conspicuous 
in the number and character of their preachers, but in 



[120] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

all those varied ministries which have to do with the 
onmarching kingdom of God in the world. They were 
the first to lead off in temperance reform in Georgia. 
They were the pioneers in negro evangelization through 
education and careful instruction. They were abreast 
in all those movements that made for righteousness in 
the community and state. 

Dr. Stacy says, "It is customary now to term every- 
thing strict and deeply pious as puritanical. Yes, these 
people were Puritans. Would that the whole world 
were Puritans, if such be the fruit!" Little is now 
left to tell the story of their deeds and achievements. 
The old church and cemetery bear eloquent testimony 
to the glorious past. Once each year her sons and 
daughters and those who have inherited her spirit, come 
together to offer homage and praise at the altar of 
parental sacrifice. In 1905, the Honorable Plesant A. 
Stovall of Savannah at this annual gathering said in 
part: "This society has met to-day in annual reunion. 
Its primary object is to preserve this ancient landmark. 
The fact that old Midway church still remains after 
one hundred and thirteen years of existence shows, 
as the historian says, that it must have been made out 
of the best material, and that it was carefully built in 
the beginning. The historic graveyard under these 
beautiful oaks, where reposes the dust of men distin- 
guished in civil station and in martial life, ministers of 
the gospel and noble men and women who have passed 
to the great beyond, invites your affectionate and de- 
voted cooperation. No more consecrated mission ever 
engaged the efforts of good people in Georgia. Here 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



are the evidences of the reviling touch of time, and 
here still remain the signs of vandalism, for the hor- 
rors of two wars have swept over old Midway and left 
their lasting and enduring impress. But better even 
than rescuing from decay the crumbling monuments 
which mark the spot where a great race of Georgians 
lie, is the duty of maintaining unimpaired the virtues 
and traditions of the old Midway colony which have 
left such a distinctive stamp upon the history of our 
commonwealth. I do not know that there is in all 
the history of Georgia such a distinguished society as 
that which you represent to-day. Certainly in no one 
spot on this earth is there the relic of a sturdier race 
than remains in the Westminster Abbey of Georgia, 
grouped under the cathedral oaks of Midway and 
reared in this memorial altar of Liberty. I shall not 
go over the historic record which is so well known to 
you — how a company of Puritan emigrants, in 1630, 
sailed to the shores of New England and, after being 
tossed about for more than a century, finally reached 
Georgia. Just twenty years after the coming of Ogle- 
thorpe these people settled upon a tract of land near 
where we now stand, resolved to worship God in their 
own way, and to cast their fortunes with the people 
of Georgia." 

In his address further there was emphasis of the fact 
that they were a cultured people, loving schools. They 
fostered education and established a library which had 
an existence for more than a century. He then com- 
pared these ante-bellum schools with our more modern 
system, insisting that they produced better and more 



[122] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

intensive thinkers. ''The great colony at Midway was 
first in education of their day; first in the best and 
highest education which fits man for the great duty of 
citizenship; which makes him a lover of religion and 
liberty and law. The character of their schools and 
of their people made their education stand among the 
best of the state and in the country and secured the 
descendants of old Midway the first place in war, in the 
struggle for liberty and in the enlightened arts of peace. 
Venerable and illustrious men, you have come down 
to us from the twilight of our country's history ; you 
have crowned the cradle of Georgia with a halo which 
age cannot obscure!" 

The second excellence pointed out by the speaker 
was the fact that they built good roads. The student 
of economics can understand the significance of this 
when he studies the plantation system of the South in 
contrast with the farms of the North. Nowhere else 
in the South was such attention paid to this matter. 
Their meeting-house and its Sabbath calls probably 
had a great deal to do with this. Mr. Stovall closed 
his address with these words : "All honor, then, to 
the noble people who have gone before, who builded 
wiser than they knew, who, true to their Puritan an- 
cestry, set up the altar of their fathers in the wilder- 
ness; who laid out roads through the trackless forest 
and the impenetrable morass ; who set up schools for 
the education of the young; who made a solitude and 
called it peace ; but who when the time for action came 
showed that they preferred liberty to repose, and who 
wrote over the southern gateway of Georgia those 

[123] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



ringing words, 'Resistance to tyrants is obedience to 
God !' " 

Thus it is that the story of Puritan Midway still 
lives. Ruins are on every hand about the hallowed 
spots, but the memories of brave deeds and heroic 
achievements are still among a grateful people. 



"The garden with its arbor gone, 
And gone with orchard green, 
A shattered chimney stands alone, 
Possessor of the scene." 



Christ the Master of men said, "Except a corn of 
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." 
Puritan Midway perished, but not its life, for it has 
multiplied itself many times throughout the South. 
Dr. Stacy tells the story of the LeConte pear-tree as 
illustrative of the wonderful influence of Midway. The 
tree was brought from the North some years before 
the Civil War. At the close of the strife, the people 
of Liberty returned to their homes to find ruin and 
desolation. Slavery had been abolished, and there was 
little hope of rehabilitation, owing to the necessity of 
negro labor in the malarious plantation district. The 
people began to move to other sections with their fam- 
ilies where a living could be earned. One man on 
removal to South Georgia made a number of clippings 
and started a pear farm, for. which only a few years 
after this he was offered a large sum. Other pear 
farms now sprang up, and this industry proved to be 
a profitable one. Such was the life of Midway send- 
ing out its influence into all the South. 



[124] 



COLONIAL SETTLERS IN THE SOUTH 

True to the splendid heritage of the past, faithful 
in the championship and guardianship of her ideals, 
undaunted by difficulty when treading the path of duty, 
high-minded in patriotism, cultured and consecrated, 
Puritan Midway performed her work in Georgia. 

"Great duties were before her and great songs, 
And whether crowned or crownless when she fell, 
It mattered not, so that God's work was done," 



[125] 




II. 

WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

■♦f T is quite impossible to give a definition 
of this term which will cover all its ten- 
dencies or the details of its expression. 
Individually the Puritans of the South 

"* differed as men differ to-day. They were 
not all of the same rank or occupation in the Old 
World and it was impossible to become thus in the 
New. Some of them had been of the ranks of the 
nobility in the mother country, while others were peas- 
ants or belonged to the middle rank of society. This 
variation is seen in the colony of Sir Robert Brooke 
on the Patuxent in Maryland, who was given prac- 
tically all the rights of feudal tenure, thus showing that 
the Puritans who accompanied him belonged to the 
more common class. But the proprietor of the Manor 
was also a Puritan of note in England, and became 
especially so in Maryland. The same thing is observ- 
able perhaps to a less extent in the colony brought 
to Virginia by Bennett and settled in Nansemond. 
These are illustrations of the striking differences be- 
tween the Puritans which are seen farther on, comparing 
those of Virginia with those from North Carolina, South 
Carolina and Georgia. Even the Providence colony in 
Maryland differed in many important respects from its 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



sister colony on the Patuxent. In North Carolina we 
find the people on small plantations, slavery less em- 
phasized in the earlier days, simplicity of life and char- 
acter in connection with indomitable energy, and self- 
reliance as a characteristic, while the South Carolina 
Puritan was found in the marts of trade in Charles- 
ton, or on his plantation at Dorchester, where the 
democratic spirit found persistent expression, and yet 
where slavery grew and prospered. It may be doubted 
whether he engaged in white indenture, especially if it 
involved those of his own faith. The Puritan planters 
in South Carolina and Georgia were practically on a 
social level, while they closed the doors to others. 
Social, economic, intellectual and moral forces operated 
among them as among us to differentiate, and only as 
they were bound together by a common faith in certain 
principles can it be said that they were a unit. 

The Puritan in the South was a prophet of progress, 
though he was not a radical or revolutionist in the 
sense of anarchy. His deliberations were always tem- 
pered with moderation and firmness and bear no rela- 
tion to the so-called modern movements of socialism 
and anarchy. His assemblies were always representa- 
tive, and sought to express the convictions of the people. 
Order being the first law of nature, he recognized it 
as fundamental to the well-being of society in the 
Church or in the State. While the expression of his 
views was regarded as rebellious and traitorous, there 
was no insanity or backward steps. It is quite remark- 
able that there was little exhibition of hysteria in all 
his life. Religiously and politically he was venturing 



[128 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

upon an untried course, and yet with darkness in front 
of him, darkness at the side of him, and only faint 
glimmers of light in experiences in the awful darkness 
behind him, he steadily kept his course, believing that 
God was leading into the light. 

There are three characteristics of his life which 
found expression in a large way in Southern life and 
civilization. 

The Puritan stood for the direction of conscience in 
the light of the presence of God. He was a product 
of the Reformation which Luther and Calvin had 
championed in Europe. In the revolt from Catholicism 
which insisted on the necessity of the pope as a vice- 
gerent of God, and the logical elaboration of the prin- 
ciple until it was found impossible to know God except- 
ing through the ordained medium of priest and pope, 
the Puritan was compelled to accept the theory that 
all men were in the presence of God, and that He in- 
clined his ear to those who sincerely came in the name 
of Christ. There was no transmission of authority 
through the priesthood, and ordination to the ministry 
was the sacred call of God expressed in the regenerated 
heart through the Holy Spirit. The right to come 
to God in Christ, the benefits of the ordinances to 
every regenerated soul, and the right to read and fol- 
low the Holy Word, were insisted upon as the preroga- 
tive of the child of God. 

Calvinism as a theology was an attempt to systema- 
tize these great principles and other Biblical teachings 
for the guidance of these people over the rough sea 
of theological and philosophical controversy wMch 

[129] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



vv^as surging furiously. The majesty and eternal char- 
acter of God, the sovereignty and Saviourhood of Jesus 
Christ, the ineffable and eternal Godhead revealed 
through Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the awfulness 
and hellishness of sin as seen by God in its eternal 
condemnation, the greatness and price of redemption, 
the fact of heaven and hell, the glorious revelation of 
God in a Holy Book for guidance, the eternal decrees 
of God for the display of his majesty and glory — all 
of these and others were the attempt of that master 
Puritan mind to shape for his followers a faith that 
would stand for all time the assaults of philosophical 
and religious skepticism. No one but a pedant can 
stand in the presence of this majestic theology as it 
was expressed in the lives of the Puritans, and then 
scoff or scorn. It has been called harsh, but it is not. 
It produced Godlike men and women, and was a 
mighty factor in making all our Southland God-fearing 
and God-loving. No one now believes that it is neces- 
sary to have a priest in order to stand in the presence 
of God. The religious conviction of the Puritan in the 
South has become a real fact in social life. 

The right to stand in the presence of God affected 
also his church polity. A church polity which was a 
hierarchy was not tenable in the light of his funda- 
mental conviction. Hence his church was independent 
or presbyterial. His conscience protested against all 
ecclesiastical tyranny, and he felt that this would al- 
ways result as long as prelates governed rather than 
the people. This was not only true of him in the 
South but elsewhere as well. 



[130] 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

"What conscience dictates to be done, 

Or warned him not to do, 
That taught him more than hell to shun, 

That more than heaven pursue." 

Conscience-direction, under the inspiration and pres- 
ence of God, made his church life what it was. This 
conscience-direction in reUgion necessitated the further 
logical step of political liberty. 

The Reformation in Europe was not only a struggle 
for religious freedom with an autocratic prelacy, but 
along with this was the people's struggle for recogni- 
tion in government. Coeval with the development of 
the papacy in history was the development of the doc- 
trine of the divine right of kings. Absolutism meant 
a divine pope in religion, and a divine king in govern- 
ment. The struggle of the Reformation was against 
the divine pope. The struggle against the divine king 
had been going on with greater or less intensity all 
over Europe. In England the kings constantly strove 
to establish the notion, but were finally overcome in 
the establishment of a constitutional monarchy with 
greater or less attempts toward the resuscitation of the 
old notion. James I was correct in his logic when 
in the council in which were represented the English 
Puritan and the Scotch Covenanter, he said, "No 
bishop with you means no king." A commonwealth in 
which all shall equally share is the political logic of 
Puritanism. This characterized it in the South. When 
they came to believe that their liberties were threat- 
ened, they cast their lives and fortunes upon the altar 
to preserve these not only for themselves but for all 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



mankind. In Virginia they were the steadying factor 
when the Cavaliers were making threats and insinua- 
tions against them as pharisaical pretenders of piety. 
And yet when they came into power it was not with 
arrogant self-sufficiency, nor did they rule with tyrants' 
hands, notwithstanding the taunts and hatred of their 
foes. Bennett, the Puritan governor of Virginia, ruled 
with moderation and patriotism, and even the tyran- 
nical Berkeley was willing to accept the benefits of his 
benign influence. John Randolph and Robert E. Lee 
had no regrets in looking back upon this man in their 
ancestral line. They were the champions of civil as 
well as religious liberty in the South. 

But the Puritans of the South became slaveholders, 
and were the owners of vast plantations, where they 
held in bondage human beings; how do you reconcile 
this with the notion of political liberty? some one asks. 
It is not an unfair question. The African at this time 
was practically outside the realm of their reasoning. 
Their advanced notions of government were possible 
only among a people where self-mastery and ability 
enabled them to aspire to this achievement. They con- 
sidered the African a poor, benighted and neglected 
child, and while they believed in slavery for him, it 
was not of that brutal sort which looked upon him only 
as an ox. On the Puritan plantations in South Caro- 
lina and Georgia (I found no documents giving me 
evidence elsewhere) they treated him with care and 
consideration. On one plantation it was customary 
never to separate families, and I presume this was true 
of others. They were regularly instructed in religion 



[132] 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

and had their regular sittings in the churches. They 
were formed into catechism classes and the elders and 
deacons of the church, with assistants, became their 
instructors. They were clothed comfortably, allowed a 
patch of ground for cultivation and certain holidays, 
the married man being allowed a little extra time each 
day for his own garden. A number of years ago one 
of the descendants of an early Puritan died in Charles- 
ton, S. C. A few days before his death the old slaves 
— the last remnants of the old plantation — came to 
Charleston to visit their one-time master. They knelt 
around his bedside while he pronounced a blessing upon 
each one; and after tender words of admonition to 
each, he asked the minister present to lead in prayer. 
On the following Sunday they rode in carriages to the 
funeral and in the grief-stricken audience none were 
more sincere than they. One old negro said, *'Massa 
Vvas always a good, kind friend." In Liberty County, 
Georgia, among the colored people we find the kindliest 
sentiment existing for their Puritan masters. In fact, 
negroes trained on these plantations boasted that their 
training had fitted them for a place of superiority over 
the common negro. 

They were not only treated with kindness, but were 
trained for some special trade if they showed any pro- 
ficiency in that direction. The plantation was an in- 
dustrial school, and they were trained to be blacksmiths, 
carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, and in various other 
industrial pursuits. 

But it was slavery, and inconsistent with their tenets 
of liberty, you say. But it was no different here from 
-— 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



New England, where our Puritan ancestors were more 
numerous. The Puritan of New England believed and 
practised slavery. Even good Governor Winthrop, one 
of the ablest and best of men, had asked for an Indian 
slave as the Puritans in Massachusetts asked for In- 
dians as slaves in the early days. Cotton Mather 
owned a black servant without apparent thought of the 
rights of man. Slavery existed throughout the colony, 
and the only reasons for its discontinuance in the 
North, says one economist, were that the "climate was 
too harsh, the social system too simple to make good 
economic development of black labor." In the South the 
economical system was dependent upon it, and climate 
and conditions favorable to its perpetuation. This same 
author speaks of a Puritan elder in Massachusetts 
whose ship was engaged in the slave traffic. When his 
slaver arrived safely at Newport, it was his invariable 
custom to return thanks "that an overruling Providence 
had been pleased to bring to this land of freedom an- 
other cargo of benighted heathen to enjoy the blessings 
of a gospel dispensation." Faneuil Hall has been called 
the Cradle of American Liberty, but old Peter Faneuil, 
the owner, was one of the most relentless slave traffick- 
ers that the country ever knew. It is true that slavery 
was abolished in New England, but it is a question 
whether the reason was not economic, as she still con- 
tinued to furnish the ships for the traffic in the South. 

But it would certainly be unfair to leave this im- 
pression of New England as a fair description of the 
whole situation. We must never forget that the New 
England conscience has frequently faced its own eco- 



[134] 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

nomic loss and triumphed in the face of material harm. 
Her leadership has been one of the mightiest potential- 
ities of our national life. Puritanism in religion, poli- 
tics, and literature has demonstrated its splendid ca- 
pacities and heroic ideals. Puritanism in New England 
has marched steadily westward, making and molding 
commonwealths, until to-day it is probably the greatest 
living agency in our national life. 

But we must not forget that there was Puritan senti- 
ment in the South that advocated abolition of slavery 
and civil liberty for the negro. It is a striking fact 
that the system of landholding has always been the 
largest determining factor in slavery. When our fore- 
fathers were discussing in Congress whether slavery 
was to be continued in the western states, they could 
have settled the entire matter against slavery if they 
had divided the country into townships, and thus per- 
petuated the New England system of holdings ; slavery 
would fall of its own accord under such a system. In 
North Carolina the system of landholding was different 
from either Virginia or South Carolina. The planta- 
tions were smaller in the eastern part of the state, or 
the holdings comparatively small in the western part. 
And here was found some radical antislavery senti- 
ment, which grew so extreme in its political and re- 
ligious attitude that it became fanatical. It spent itself 
without apparent result other than causing the intense 
hatred of their southern slaveholding neighbors. 

The leader. Rev. William C. Davis, came from a 
Puritan family which was a part of that mighty Scotch- 
Irish movement south from Pennsylvania. Reared in 

^35! 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



North Carolina, educated under Dr. McCaule in South 
Carolina, his entire ministry was spent in these states 
with the exception of a pastorate in Tennessee. For 
twenty-three years he preached in Presbyterian 
churches, and for twenty-one in Independent churches. 
Among his followers he became renowned for piety 
and scholarship. A letter from a Mr. Rankin of east 
Tennessee, who was also an abolitionist, gives us a 
picture of what his enthusiastic followers thought of 
him : "On the 29th instant, having crossed Broad River 
about sunset, and being informed that I was within 
a few miles of the residence of Rev. William C. Davis, 
whose name we have long known, I determined to visit 
this deserving genius. According to directions, I took 
a small path leaving the public way. It soon became 
dark. The moon was in her first quarter, and afforded 
but a glimmering light amongst the small pines and 
scrubby oaks through which I passed. All was still 
and hushed save the unceasing cry of the dolesome 
whippoorwill. It is not in my power to describe the 
rush of thoughts that now overwhelmed my mind. 
Under what circumstances am I about to behold the 
sequestered sage, said I to myself, when on a sudden 
an opening was spread before my view, and in the 
midst a bright light shone fair as the star of the morn- 
ing. When the first thrill of dismay had passed over 
my mind, I perceived myself to be on the verge of a 
small field which contained in its midst a small dwell- 
ing house with a light shining through a window from 
a brightly burning candle. The once beautiful but now 
trite phrase, 'the midnight lamp,' came into my mind. 



[136] 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

I have seen the man of wealth musing over his coffers 
of gold, or meditating his schemes of lucre. I have 
seen the gentleman of quality carefully guarding his 
dignity by obeying every mandate of fashion. I have 
seen the Southern despot perched in his splendid por- 
tico, free from every toil of life, but for which his lash- 
driven slave bedewed the soil he cultivated with show- 
ers of sweat and blood. But now I beheld the man 
whom the world knows not, and regards not, because 
the powers of his gigantic mind are devoted to do the 
world good. The subject of my narrative is a man 
of agreeable appearance, his figure is well-proportioned, 
rather over common size, and exhibiting somewhat of 
majesty. His most prominent characteristic is the 
placid sereneness that without a cloud forever pervades 
his countenance. His eye kindles into an astonishing 
vividness in the process of conversation. The elo- 
quence of this man is peculiarly natural, and it would 
no doubt gain more applause from an audience of the 
severest critics than from one composed of the un- 
learned vulgar. He, like his kindred spirits in every 
age, has had to endure persecution, which he has done 
with that firm tranquillity becoming a Christian philoso- 
pher and a wise philanthropist. He well knows that 
the present is not the time of his reward, but the time 
of his labor, — a labor for which he shall one day 
be repaid an hundredfold. He is by his innate great- 
ness superior to the puny attacks of bigotry, envy and 
superstition, and is now devoting his whole time and 
talent to the glorious employment of clearing out the 
rubbish which ignorance, illiberality, bigotry and su- 

U27] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



perstition have been long heaping in the strait and 
narrow, but plain, way that leads the human mind to 
never-ending joy. Though we now do not, yet poster- 
ity will hereafter thank him for his labors, and when 
many who are now propped up to a high standing by 
the supports of party, raised to the summit of political 
fame by the impulse of ambition, or become conspic- 
uous in the gilded turrets of wealth by defrauding the 
widow and the orphan, when these and a thousand 
others who now feel themselves on the acme of earthly 
elevation shall have been laid low in the damp grave, 
and their useless names forever lost in the dark gulf 
of oblivion, then shall be embalmed in the memories 
of the learned and in the hearts of the pious, the worthy 
name of William C. Davis." 

This man was the leader of a movement which re- 
sulted in the organization of Independent churches in 
North Carolina and South Carolina. One such church 
was organized by him also in Tennessee. Later the 
movement spread into Mississippi, and at the outbreak 
of the Civil War these people moved into the Ozark 
Hills, where their descendants may be found. In their 
conventions the question of slavery was always at the 
front. In August, 1831, their state convention in South 
Carolina had the following question for discussion, 
"Have infant slaves a right to the ordinance of baptism 
through the representation of their masters or mis- 
tresses ?" The convention finally adopted the following 
resolutions unanimously : 

"Resolved, that it is the opinion of the convention, 
that the connection which exists between an infant and 



[138 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

its representative must be founded on the principles of 
justice in order to have a correct and proper repre- 
sentation, and that no infant can be represented or 
have a Scriptural claim to this holy ordinance unless 
the connection existing between it and its representa- 
tives be founded on justice and Scriptural principles. 

"2d. Resolved, that the connection existing between 
a slaveholder and his slave is founded on the unjust 
and immoral principle of tyranny and oppression, and 
that the principle of involuntary slavery is morally 
wrong; consequently to admit an infant slave to bap- 
tism through the representation of its master or mis- 
tress would be a tacit acknowledgment that slavery 
is morally right, and would cause the sacred ordinance 
of God to countenance a moral evil, and would make 
Christ the minister of sin. 

"3rd. Therefore, resolved, that it is the decided and 
conscientious opinion of this Convention that infant 
slaves should not be admitted to baptism through the 
representation of their masters or mistresses." 

A book called "Gospel Plan," published by Mr. Davis 
and condemned by the General Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian Church for Scriptural unsoundness, the au- 
thority for this being one of his ministers by the name 
of Feemster, says in one place : "There is no necessity to 
say one word proving the immorality of holding slaves. 
It is a point long ago given up by all. I suppose there 
is not a man in the United States whose judgment is 
worth attending to but would feel it a dishonor to him 
as a man of sense and as a citizen of America, which 
has fought and bled for freedom, to be thought one 

[ 139] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



who would vindicate the practice of slavery, either on 
principles of morality or sound policy. But I do can- 
didly think it an oddity in divinity for a preacher of 
the gospel of the meek and lowly Jesus, to go up into 
the pulpit and solemnly tell his people that if they live 
willfully and habitually in the practice of any known 
sin they are not true Christians, when at the same time 
he owns eight or ten African slaves, and can sell and 
barter in human flesh, and knows at the same time it 
is a general practice among the people of his congrega- 
tion. They do not pretend to deny that it is wrong; 
they frankly acknowledge it a moral evil and most 
abominable sin, too, against all the laws of God and 
humanity; a sin of the nation and injurious to happi- 
ness, the peace and good policy of the land, and con- 
trary to the mild dictates of the gospel, which directs 
us to do as we would be done by, according to the gen- 
eral spirit of the law and the prophets. But it is to 
be lamented that although they are very willing to 
acknowledge the sin, yet they are not ashamed of it; 
the reason is, it is a sin practiced by men of high rank; 
the affluent and the honorable, and even the general- 
ity of the clergy, are abettors of the crime, black as 
it is; and it is a profitable sin, and attended with ele- 
gance and fashionable politeness; all these things con- 
sidered, it is no great wonder that they are not 
ashamed; and the true reason is they have not yet got 
grace enough to make it reach the heart. For, indeed, 
it requires more grace than generally falls to the lot 
of slaveholders, to make even a preacher of the gospel, 
who ought to be exemplary in good works to make 



[140] 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

his light shine before men, genuinely sorry for a sin 
which is profitable, elegant and generally practiced. 
But many things are pleaded in favor of this acknowl- 
edged sin. I have them now. I wish there had never 
one come to America. It is my duty to take care of 
them. If I had not my slaves another would, who 
no doubt would use them worse than I do, so that upon 
the whole it is my duty to do as well by them as pos- 
sible. I make no doubt you have some pill to ease a 
guilty conscience; and he must have some way to lull 
it to sleep. The drunkard pleads his cause, too; so 
every other sinner has his reasons and palliations and 
excuses. But the slaveholder replies, and perhaps with 
some indignation, 'What will I do?' I answer, as to 
your slaves I cannot tell you what you either can or 
will do. Perhaps the sin has got such a firm hold of 
you that you cannot extricate yourself from it easily. 
God no doubt will do something with you, if you can 
do nothing with your slaves. But my business at pres- 
ent on this subject is to tell you of one thing that you 
can do and ought to do; and I wonder your own good 
sense and honesty has not directed you to do it long 
ago. Fm telling your congregation that if they will- 
fully and habitually live in any known sin they have 
no religion — for if this doctrine be true, you will most 
assuredly go to hell. You are the very person who 
does willfully, avowedly, habitually and confessedly live 
in the daily practice of the worst sin that ever our 
country was guilty of; and you never preach that doc- 
trine but you tarnish your own coat." 

In another book, in referring to the slave-master, he 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



says: "And what is worse than all this, their pompous 
houses and farms are decorated with slaves, cringing 
to the mandate of a lordly master: he, clad in clerical 
functions, holds an iron rod in one hand and the Bible 
in the other; the one directing him to do to others as 
he would that others should do to him, and the other 
contradicting this golden rule of our Lord and enforc- 
ing the orders of a rigorous despot." 

Such was the spirit and doctrine of a movement 
starting in North Carolina and South Carolina, its in- 
fluence reaching as far west as Mississippi. The 
churches entering into their General Convention be- 
came involved in quarrels over the tenets, and by the 
time of the war they had practically disappeared in 
North Carolina and South Carolina. Their main tenet 
was the abolition of the slave and securing for him 
equal religious and political freedom. They had no hesi- 
tancy in later days in taking him into membership with 
them, and the remnant stood with the North in the 
War. Independence of character, unswerving loyalty 
to their principles, characterized the movement. There 
is no evidence that this Independent movement was 
ever connected with the colonies or churches on the 
coast, as there would have been little sympathy on the 
part of either. The above is not, however, a true con- 
ception of the larger Puritan spirit in the South. The 
majority of the Puritans of the South stood with the 
section of which they were a part. 

It may be said, however, that their slaves were better 
cared for, clothed, fed and instructed than the common 
negro of to-day, after forty years of freedom. Never- 



[142] 



WHAT IS PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 

tlieless the logic of their political ideals was never 
applied to the negro. 

The third characteristic of Puritanism in the South, 
and a marked one it is, is the restlessness which has 
formed the basis of all those economic and religious 
movements which have resulted in the conquest and 
settlement of new territory and the world-wide exten- 
sion of the Puritan faith. 

This has always been his spirit. If a new world 
should be discovered, the Puritan would be among its 
first settlers with a school and church. He is the ro- 
mance of the centuries. 

In the South he came in through the doors of James- 
town, Charleston and Savannah. The Scotch-Irish re- 
enforced this movement by sweeping down from Mary- 
land into Virginia above the tide-water districts, and 
from thence into all the South. Together they were 
the conquerors of the section. From their various set- 
tlements people were constantly moving into the newer 
parts. Sometimes enough would go to form a little 
church, as when they left Dorchester, Massachusetts, 
for South Carolina or when the little colony went out 
from the old Williamsburg Church. Family names 
found in old Midway may be found in different places 
in the South. The name Bulloch, which was found as 
early as 1700 in Charleston, is found a little later in 
another part of the State where there is a church, and 
then later in Savannah and Midway. The pastors of 
their churches were organizing new ones, and wher- 
ever an old church is found, about it will be found a 
group of others of a later growth. They were mis- 

[143] 



PURITANISM IN THE SOUTH 



sionaries of the Cross and felt the responsibility of a 
world's salvation. 

From southern Virginia to Maryland, from South 
Carolina to southern Georgia, there are many miles, 
but the geography was not so important in the Puri- 
tan's vocabulary as the grammar imperative, Go. It 
has been such a self-sacrificing spirit that he has put 
into the economic, educational and religious life of the 
South. 

Believing in education, strong in the expression of 
his convictions, faithful in the performance of duty, 
steadfast in the gospel faith, cherishing his ideals above 
gold, such was the Puritan of the South. 



[144] 



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